Albania rejects request to destroy Syrian weapons

Albania rejects request to destroy Syrian weapons

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania, a small, impoverished Balkan nation that is one of the United States’ staunchest supporters, today firmly rejected a U.S. request for it to host the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile. The surprise refusal was a major blow to international efforts to destroy Syria’s chemical arsenal by mid-2014. It left the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons without a country to host the destruction of Syria’s estimated 1,000-metric ton arsenal, which includes mustard gas and the deadly nerve agent sarin.