The Syrian regime has the largest chemical arsenal in the Middle East

It aims to make conventional forces armed mostly countries, as "historic enemy" Israel. The reports detail the availability of between 500 and 1,000 metric tons of "chemical agents", whose production was carried out in a decentralized manner by companies from various countries. In case of "best efforts", the chemical weapons production effort can reach "few hundred tons per year." There are four production sites which Syria can count: one in the north of Damascus, another near Homs, one in Hama and another near Cerin. The scenario comes from a recent analysis of Rid, Italian Defence Journal, warning that define exactly the type and quality of Syrian chemical arsenal is not simple because the true and verifiable news scarce. The country is impervious to international control he says. The quality and quantity of Syrian chemical endowment follows, therefore, of the attitude of Damascus accessiona relation to international protocols. Although part since 1968 Geneva Protocol, which prohibits the use as a source of chemical weapons, Syria never signed the Chemichal Weapons Convention (CWC). Also implicitly admitted Damascus some chemical arsenal available to refusing for years to consider any proposed inspection or disarmament by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), ie, the international body that deals the implementation of the CWC. Made its considering that Israel admitted possession of its own nuclear weapons. Moreover, the threat by the regime of Assad to employ chemical munitions against any outside intervention forces, which he said would not happen on their own people, is considered a further admission that it has such weapons. The leap in quality in the Syrian chemical arsenal, said Rid, occurred between the 80s and early 90s , and then had another resizing. In this latest cooperation was crucial between Damascus and Iran in the mid-2000s, which "enabled the implementation of more efficient facilities" for the development of chemical agents. These four manufacturing units are spread over large areas small structures, to reduce vulnerability in the event of air strikes. Storage sites, however, are in Homs, Latakia, Palmyra, Hama and al-Safira, near Aleppo. In its analysis, the Italian Journal of Defense tends to conclude that they are between 50 and 100 heads of ballistic missiles with chemical load that has the Damascus regime. According to official statements of the Free Syrian Amy, chemical weapons were used by Syria in at least 18 opportunities in fighting on Damascus, Idlib, Homs and Hama, with no international organization could confirm these episodes.