Officials: Syria inspectors must seek cease-fires

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — International inspection teams overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons will have to negotiate cease-fires between government and rebel forces to gain access to some sites, officials involved with the mission said Wednesday.

The revelation is a clear indication of the risks and difficulties of the unprecedented disarmament plan, and it suggests the effort to rid Damascus of its poison gas stockpile may have a hard time meeting its mid-2014 deadline.

The destruction of the stockpile is being led by a joint team from the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu told reporters the timeline was tight but “not unrealistic.” He said inspectors have to visit more than 20 sites in coming days and weeks. Since the mission started last week, they have been to one location; they were expected to inspect a second site near Damascus on Wednesday.

This is the first time the global organization that polices the Chemical Weapons Convention has sent its inspectors and analytical chemists into a raging civil war, and their security is a major concern amid ongoing fighting between President Bashar Assad’s forces and various rebel groups. The war has already left at least 100,000 people dead.

On Wednesday, rebels overran a military post near the southern city of Daraa, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group. Opposition fighters late last month also captured a nearby military base that previously served as the customs office on the outskirts of Daraa.

“If we can ensure some cooperation by all parties and if some temporary cease-fires … can be established in order to permit our experts to work in a very hostile environment, I think the targets could be reached,” Uzumcu said.

Previous attempts by international mediators to negotiate broader cease-fires have failed, though it might be easier for combatants to agree to halt their fire in a specific location for a limited time.

Two large umbrella groups for the Arab and Muslim world — the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation — are urging those fighting in Syria to halt fighting for the duration of next week’s four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Arab League’s deputy secretary general, Ahmed Ben Heli, told reporters in Cairo on Wednesday.

At The Hague, another senior OPCW official, Malik Ellahi, said that while cease-fires will be vital for some locations, Damascus has consolidated many of its weapons into secure locations away from rebel-held territory.

“So far what we have been told is that most of the sites and facilities that we need to inspect are in government control,” he said.

Even so, the teams of inspectors will need security clearances wherever and whenever they move. An inspection team “will only go and conduct its mission … if it is assured that security on a given day, on a given schedule is provided,” Ellahi said.

Uzumcu said Syrian authorities’ dealings with inspectors have so far been constructive and cooperative.

The officials said it is too early in the mission to speculate on exactly how and where chemical weapons will be destroyed and how many inspectors will be needed.

In other developments Wednesday, two mortar shells from Syria struck an Israeli military post on the Golan Heights, lightly wounding an Israeli soldier.

Israel’s military said it struck back, hitting the source of fire, but did not specify if the mortars came from a rebel or government position.

In France, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault revealed, apparently by mistake, that two more journalists were being held hostage in Syria.

The French Foreign Ministry said the kidnapping of Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres had not been disclosed until now, in line with their families’ wishes.

However, in an interview on French radio station Europe 1, Ayrault named them for the first time while answering a question about two other reporters kidnapped in June.