THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Syrian authorities have declared that they once had a program to produce the deadly toxin ricin, according to an official document of the global chemical weapons watchdog.
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A report on the website of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says Damascus revealed in July "a facility for the production of ricin" along with two other "chemical weapons-related facilities."
Nobody at the organization was immediately available for comment Friday.
Syria's latest declaration states that "the entire quantity of ricin produced was disposed of prior to the entry into force" of the Chemical Weapons Convention after Damascus' decision to join last year, according to the report that was prepared for a private meeting and later posted online.
The report says the "newly declared facility is subject to verification and destruction," but adds that it is "located in an area that is not under Syrian Government control," raising questions about whether it can be destroyed during the ongoing civil war in the country.
The report also raises doubts about the completeness of Syria's initial declaration of its chemical weapons stockpile as efforts to destroy the country's chemical arsenal near completion.
Investigators for the organization also said Sept. 10 that they were virtually certain chlorine had been used as a chemical weapon in northern Syria this year.
Syria joined the organization last year in a move widely seen as averting U.S. airstrikes in the aftermath of a chemical attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds of civilians.
The U.S. and Western allies accused the Syrian government of being responsible for that attack, while Damascus blamed rebels.
Also Friday, the United Nations Security Council reaffirmed its "unconditional support" for maintaining the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights that has been caught up in Syria's civil war.
The future of the mission that monitors a buffer zone between Syria and Israel had been in doubt after peacekeepers became targets of al-Qaida-linked rebels who seized and later freed 45 Fijians. The militants from the Nusra Front also threatened two groups of Filipino peacekeepers but they refused to surrender and managed to escape.
A presidential statement approved by the 15-member council Friday said Israel and Syria must remain committed to the agreement that followed the 1973 war in the Middle East. The region has been destabilized by fighting between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters.
The council called the 12,000-strong force vital "to peace and security in the Middle East."
The Philippine military said Friday that more than 240 Filipino peacekeepers arrived in Manila on Friday after pulling out two weeks early from the U.N. mission. A group of 85 soldiers is to fly home Sunday from the Golan, ending the five-year Philippine peacekeeping role, military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.
The United Nations said Monday it has withdrawn its peacekeepers from Golan and relocated its forces to the Israeli side of the border because of escalating fighting between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters.
Zagala said the relocated peacekeepers had filled a U.N. camp on the Israeli side, prompting U.N. and Philippine military officials to decide to send the Filipino forces home about two weeks earlier than scheduled.
Alarmed by the deteriorating security in the Golan, the Philippine government earlier notified the U.N. it would not send any replacements when the current Filipino force ended its tour.
Elsewhere on Friday, attackers in Lebanon detonated a roadside bomb against a passing army truck near the Syrian border, killing two soldiers and wounding three in the latest spillover from the civil war next door.
The bomb exploded outside the town of Arsal, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Prime Minister Tammam Salam blamed jihadi extremists for the bombing in a statement by his office.
The attack came after the army detained a Lebanese and two Syrians alleged to be part of a "terrorist cell" near Arsal. On Wednesday, jihadi gunmen crossed from Syria and snatched a Lebanese solider. Gunmen snatched about 20 soldiers and police in August.
At least eight of the soldiers are being held by the Nusra Front. Others are being detained by the extremist Islamic State group, which has beheaded two.
Since the abductions, Lebanese troops have clashed repeatedly with jihadi fighters near Arsal.
Police on Friday were questioning three Syrians who entered the country illegally on suspicion of a connection to the beheading of one of the soldiers, security officials said.
Information for this article was contributed by Jim Gomez, Bassem Mroue and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/20/2014