15/11/2013 13:54
Norway to send ships to Syria to ferry weapons out
Norway on Thursday became the first country to confirm it will send military servicemen to Syria and help the U.N. eliminate the Assad government's chemical weapons arsenal, The Associated Press reported.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende said his country would dispatch a civilian cargo ship and a Navy frigate to Syrian ports to pick up the stockpiles and carry them elsewhere for destruction.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Brende described destroying Assad's arsenal as a Norwegian obligation. Fifty servicemen usually accompany a Norwegian frigate and Brende acknowledged the operation is "not risk-free."
"But what is definitely not risk-free and what is a threat to human mankind is if weapons of mass destructions come in the hands of people willing or using them against their own people," Brende said in Washington, where he was to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry and senior U.S. lawmakers. "The risk has to be seen in the context of having these weapons of mass destruction there."
The U.N.'s Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons is still working out the plan for destroying Assad's stockpiles. Denmark is considering similar transport assistance and is awaiting parliamentary approval.
The multilateral coordination to rid Syria of its chemical weapons and agents was essentially a Plan B for President Barack Obama after he failed to muster sufficient domestic or international support for a punitive strike on Syrian President Bashar Assad's government after a chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs in August.
The U.S. said more than 1,400 people were killed, including at least 400 children, though some organizations cited a significantly lower death toll. Assad's government blamed rebels for the attack.