RED LINE

Assad May Have Kept Chemical Weapons

After promising to destroy the entire arsenal.

A new report from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says its inspectors have found traces of deadly nerve agents in labs around Syria over the last three years—substances that the Bashar al-Assad regime had insisted were not part of its chemical-weapons program. The watchdog’s report throws into question whether Syria actually followed its 2014 commitment to destroy all of its chemical weapons. Soman and VX, two precursors for chemical warfare, were said to be discovered at a number of previously undeclared facilities near Damascus, fueling the speculation that Assad may not have destroyed all the armaments.