Türkiye has become part of an international task force formed to help Syria eliminate remaining chemical weapons from the former Assad regime, following an invitation from Damascus.

According to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources, a decision was adopted on Oct. 10, 2025, at the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to support Syria in the accelerated on-site destruction of remaining chemical weapons remnants.

During his time in power, Assad’s forces were widely documented as responsible for hundreds of chemical weapons attacks. Independent investigations and U.N.-linked inquiries estimate over 300 confirmed attacks, primarily involving chlorine and other banned agents, with the vast majority attributed to government forces between 2012 and 2019.

While the Chemical Weapons Convention places the responsibility for destroying such weapons on individual states, due to the ousted Assad regime's covert conduct of its chemical weapons program, its refusal to cooperate with the OPCW, the unknown fate of records pertaining to the chemical weapons program from the former regime's era and the lack of capacity for destruction, a process had been initiated to provide support to Syria from the international community.

In parallel with this process, the Syrian government established an international task force in cooperation with the OPCW to locate, verify, secure and destroy the remnants of the country's chemical weapons program.

Through this mechanism, referred to by Syria as the "Breath of Freedom Task Force," it is envisaged that technical, logistical and training support will be provided to the Syrian government in the face of these challenges and that the international community's support for this purpose will be coordinated.

In addition to Türkiye and Syria, the task force members include Qatar, the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Canada and the OPCW Technical Secretariat.

The task force members are generally expected to provide the necessary training and equipment to ensure that reconnaissance activities conducted by Syrian teams in the field are carried out safely, as well as to support the secure containment, storage and planned destruction of any chemical weapons and residues identified.

They are also expected to provide technical support for on-site destruction where safe storage is not feasible and to make concrete contributions to addressing Syria's capacity gaps to strengthen the resilience of its health infrastructure against chemical risks.

A ceremony marking the official launch of the task force's activities was held in New York on Wednesday with the participation of officials from member countries.

Türkiye was represented at the event by its permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ahmet Yıldız.

Türkiye's contributions

The new Syrian government took power after the ouster of the Bashar Assad regime in December 2024 and has been working to recover from 14 years of civil war and to reintegrate into the international fold.

Türkiye has taken a leading role in supporting post-Assad Syria across multiple fronts. Ankara has expanded security cooperation, including training and equipping Syrian forces, while providing energy support, supplying natural gas and electricity to help restore critical infrastructure.

Türkiye has also been carrying out humanitarian demining activities in various parts of Syria, contributing to the disposal of unexploded ordnance as well as providing active political, technical and logistical support within the framework of the task force and OPCW-led international efforts.

In this context, Türkiye hosted a workshop in Ankara on Feb. 16-17 with the participation of experts from task force member countries and the OPCW.

The workshop assessed in detail the operational, technical and institutional capacity gaps in eliminating remnants of the former Assad regime's chemical weapons program and helped structure support packages to be provided to Syria.