ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Syria on Thursday told the UN Security Council that the process of destroying chemical weapons that were used to devastating effect on the country's populace during the rule of Bashar al-Assad has commenced, calling it the first Syrian chemical disarmament initiative in "over a decade."

The Security Council kicked off a session at 10 am New York time to discuss the presence of chemical weapons in the country. In 2013, the UN-affiliated Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) determined that Sarin gas was used against the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people, with later investiations accusing the Assad regime of orchestrating the attack.

A UN investigative team subsequently said that it had found "clear and convincing evidence" that Sarin gas was used in the attack, with over 85 percent of blood samples taken from the site testing positive for the nerve agent.

The upheaval that led to the ouster of Assad in December 2024 and the subsequent ascent to power of current President Ahmed al-Sharaa raised international concerns of chemical weapons stockpiles falling into the hands of extremist groups.

"We aim at protecting the Syrian people so that such weapons will not fall into the wrong hands," Syria's Permanent Representative to the UN Ibrahim Olabi told the Security Council.

"This is the very first destruction process since we have been liberated from the previous regime," he continued. "It's also the first of its kind to destroy chemical materials on Syrian territory for over a decade."

Following the global outcry over the Ghouta attacks, Syria subsequently joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013 and worked with OPCW staff to destroy remaining munitions. However, several stockpiles were not declared to international monitors over the following decade.

According to an OPCW report dated August 26, the new authorities in Damascus declared the existence of one additional chemical weapons production facility and two chemical weapons storage facilities to the organization, with joint preparations ongoing to destroy all the hazardous materials found at the sites.

The new declarations come after OPCW inspectors discovered an undisclosed chemical weapons site in what the UN termed a "momentous discovery," with the munitions found including rocket types that matched those used in the Ghouta attack.

"Every site that is secured, every ammunition that is identified, does not merely remove a danger to Syria, but the entire world," Olabi concluded.