US seeking support in Syrian weapons destruction

Belgian foreign ministry spokesman said Thursday that Washington has contacted several of its allies, including Belgium and France, for possible help in destroying Syria's chemical arsenal.

"The Americans held an exploratory working brief in early October with Belgium, Norway, France and Albania to see what capacities each might have to treat chemical weapons," the spokesman told AFP.

"There was no formal request, it was more making contact to ask a country about its scope of options," he added.

Syria’s entire chemical arsenal, estimated to be about 1,000 tons, must be destroyed by mid-summer under UN Security Council Resolution 2118 passed in September.

Norway has already given its formal no to the US due to tight scheduling of its own agendas.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is in charge of the grand scale destruction operation after a chemical attack which killed hundreds in Damascus.

An expected outline of the destruction process is expected to be released by OPCW by November 15.

"That is when international assistance will be necessary and this is why the United States is contacting its allies, and not just the initial four," the foreign ministry spokesman said.