Foreign minister says country needs international help to dismantle programme and ensure Syria becomes ‘aligned with international norms’

Syria’s foreign minister has vowed to swiftly rid the country of the chemical weapons remaining after the downfall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, and he appealed to the international community for help.

Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani spoke during closed-door meetings at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, where he became the first Syrian foreign minister to address the disarmament agency.