Few options to secure Syria's chemical arsenal

BEIRUT -- The United States and regional allies are closely monitoring Syria's chemical weapons -- caught in the midst of a raging civil war -- but options for securing the toxic agents stuffed into shells, bombs and missiles are fraught with risk.

President Bashar Assad's embattled regime is believed to have one of the largest chemical weapons stockpiles in the world.

Fears have risen that a cornered Assad might use them or that they could fall into the hands of extremists, whether the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, an Assad ally, or al-Qaida-linked militants among the rebels.

The main storage and productions sites are considered secure. However, some suggest the civil war poses one of the gravest risks of losing control over non-conventional weapons since the breakup of the Soviet Union two decades ago.

Syria's suspected arsenal is scattered across several locations, mainly in the north and west, where fighting between Assad's forces and rebels seeking to oust him has been heaviest.

The price of military action against the arsenal is prohibitively high, Bucci and others say.

Airstrikes on chemical weapons depots could inadvertently release toxic clouds or expose them to looters. A ground operation would require thousands of troops, and the U.S. administration has pushed back on any suggestion of direct military intervention.

Syria is believed to have hundreds, if not thousands, of tons of chemical agents, said Leonard Spector, deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California. This includes mustard gas, a blistering agent, and the more lethal nerve agents sarin and VX, he said.

Syria has not used chemical weapons, unlike Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein. Analysts say the bigger threat is that the weapons fall into the wrong hands.