Ex-Syrian officer: Strikes hit parts of program
A former officer in Syria's chemical program says the joint U.S., British, and French strikes in response to an suspected chemical attack in a Damascus suburb hit "parts of but not the heart" of the program.
Adulsalam Abdulrazek said Saturday that the joint strikes were unlikely to curb the government's ability to produce or launch new attacks.
Speaking from rebel-held northern Syria, Abdulrazek told The Associated Press there were an estimated 50 warehouses around Syria that stored chemical weapons before the program was dismantled in 2013. He says he believes those fixed storage facilities remain intact or were only slightly moved around.
He says Syria's chemical weapons program was only partially dismantled because Damascus didn't allow inspections of existing stockpiles and capabilities.
