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U.S. Plans for Possibility that Assad Could Lose Control of Chemical Arms Cache
(Washington Post) Craig Whitlock and Carol Morello - U.S. officials are increasingly worried that Syria's weapons of mass destruction could fall into the hands of Islamist extremists, rogue generals or other uncontrollable factions. Rebels are closing in on the Safirah base near Aleppo which has served as a major production center for such munitions. Retired Maj. Gen. Adnan Silou, who once led the army's chemical weapons training program and defected to the opposition in June, said that the main storage sites for mustard gas and nerve agents are supposed to be guarded by thousands of Syrian troops but that they would be easily overrun. Meanwhile, the U.S. government and some European allies have hired private contractors to train Syrian rebels how to monitor and secure chemical weapons sites.