Syrian, Dutch foreign ministers talk in The Hague on sidelines of chemical weapons meeting

Syria's new Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Wednesday met with his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in The Hague.

The meeting was announced by the Syrian Foreign Ministry on X, but with no details on the content of the talks. The meeting took place as part of al-Shaibani's participation in an Executive Council meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Speaking at the session, al-Shaibani stressed that the new Syrian government is "determined to reconstruct the future of the new Syria based on transparency, justice, and cooperation with the international community."

In 2013, the former Assad regime launched missiles carrying sarin gas, a fast-acting toxic nerve agent, on Ghouta, near the capital Damascus, killing more than 1,400 people, including hundreds of children.

On Sept. 13, 2013, following the attack, Syria under the Assad regime joined the OPCW.

In April 2021, OPCW member states voted to suspend some of Syria's membership rights after investigations confirmed the use of chemical weapons in attacks on Al-Lataminah in Hama in 2017 and Idlib in 2018.

Last month, new Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa met in Damascus with a delegation from the OPCW, led by Director-General Fernando Arias Gonzalez.

Assad, Syria's leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, ending the regime of the Baath Party, which had been in power since 1963.