BEIRUT // Forces loyal to the Syrian president Bashar Al Assad secured the highway that links Damascus with northern Syria yesterday, paving the way for the potential shipment of chemical weapons overland to a Mediterranean port for destruction abroad.
Government troops launched an offensive last month in the Qalamoun region north of Damascus in an attempt to secure the main north-south highway that runs through the area and to cut rebel supply lines that criss-cross the mountainous terrain.
Fighting in the area cut off the road for nearly three weeks, but government forces reopened it yesterday after seizing control of most of the town of Nabek along the highway, said the director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman.
“It is open but not secure,” Mr Abdurrahman added, saying the route remains “dangerous” because it is still under rebel fire.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is leading the UN-backed mission to rid Syria of its chemical arsenal, has said it would consider using the highway to transport the weapons to the port of Latakia before they are taken out of the country for destruction.
* Associated Press
