One of the most remarkable outcomes of the toppling of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria is that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group leading the coalition now in charge in Damascus, wants international help in safely dismantling the regime’s clandestine chemical weapons program. 

In a statement issued December 7 on X, HTS called for international assistance in ridding the country of these deadly poisons. As the international community seeks to assist the forces that ousted Assad, responding to the HTS call for help on chemical weapons should be a high priority. 

What is most astounding about the HTS statement is that it runs counter to conventional wisdom about terrorist groups’ interest in exotic weapons. HTS is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the UN Security Council, the European Union, and Russia.  

In its statement, HTS said the “Assad regime has attacked the Syrian people with chemical weapons on dozens of occasions, causing the deaths of thousands…” It goes on to reassure the international community that it has “no intention or desire to use chemical weapons or any weapons of mass destruction” and that it will not allow chemical weapons “to fall into irresponsible hands.”  

The statement expresses a “readiness to cooperate with the international community on all matters related to the monitoring of weapons and sensitive sites.” It goes on to say that HTS “will not allow the tragedies experienced by Syria in the past to be repeated.” 

If this remarkable statement can be believed, it should be heralded as an important charge to uphold the international norm against chemical weapons. It stands in contrast to the intentions of other non-state actors such as the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Tower bombing Ramzi Yousef who said he would have released sodium cyanide gas if he could have, or Osama Bin Ladin and al-Qaeda who made plans to deploy chemical and biological agents in Afghanistan, or the Islamic State operatives who used low-grade mustard agent in attacks in Marea, Syria.  

Rather than claiming religious justification to use any means available to kill others, HTS’s statement argues that it is because of their religious faith that they want to prevent the proliferation of any residual weapons stocks. The HTS statement said its commitment is “rooted in our faith and the teachings of our religion, which emphasizes the sanctity of life and compassion for humanity.” 

Among the many attacks that may have influenced the rebels’ aversion to chemical weapons is the 2013 deployment by the regime of Sarin nerve agent and chlorine that killed some 1,400 people in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. 

For a decade the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has worked to fully account for the Assad regime’s chemical weapons. Despite joining the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2013 after the Ghouta attack and allowing the international community to destroy 1,300 tons of chemical weapons and ingredients, the Assad regime continued to use the widely available industrial chemicals chlorine, sulfur mustard, and sarin to attack opposition forces.  

Syrian intelligence intimidated victims so they would deny the attacks occurred then joined with Russian officials in claiming the attacks were staged by opposition forces. Despite its involvement in the negotiation of the CWC and the destruction of its own chemical weapons stockpile in 2017, Russia supported the Assad regime in this fiction in international forums around the globe.  

OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias recently requested the cooperation of the new Syrian authorities and the support of the international community to allow the “OPCW to eradicate this criminal program once and for all.”  

Getting OPCW Technical Secretariat personnel into Syria is difficult right now, given the country’s chaotic security environment. Israel’s strikes on Syrian military sites complicate this important international mission.  

Israel asserted that its many strikes on Syrian facilities aim to prevent any residual chemical weapons capabilities from falling into terrorist hands. While an important mission, the outcome may also destroy evidence about the regime’s clandestine chemical weapons capabilities and disperse chemical materials in unpredictable ways.  

Long-term, the objective should be having a trusted third party like the OPCW identify, secure, and manage the destruction of any remaining chemical weapons capabilities in Syria. Riding Syrian territory with chemical weapons in a predictable fashion is also in Israel’s security interest. 

Getting OPCW personnel into Syria is important for preventing any proliferation of chemical weapons as well as strengthening the norm. Surprisingly, it is HTS, a non-state actor with a violent past, that is creating the opportunity to underscore the value of internationally agreed-upon rules of behavior. 

John V. Parachini is a senior international and defense researcher at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution. He recently served at the State Department’s Office of Chemical and Biological Weapons Affairs.

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