Failure to eliminate its chemical weapons could expose Syria to sanctions, although these would have to supported in the U.N. Security Council by Russia and China, which have so far refused to back such measures against President Bashar al-Assad.
That is the message that will be given to Syria's representative to the OPCW during its executive council meeting on Thursday in The Hague, where the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Organization is located, the sources said. A senior western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the U.N. Security Council will be briefed on the issue by mission head Sigrid Kaag next week.
"All the indications are, and the secretary-general's report makes clear, that actually the regime has been sort of stalling on the implementation of the agreement," the diplomat said.
"It will be important what Sigrid Kaag says about whether she thinks these delays are deliberately politically-motivated and why or whether there's any truth in the weather, the security and those more technical aspects," he said.