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Source: http://www.economist.com/node/21559671
Watch Out!: Syria and Its Chemical Weapons
(Economist-UK) Syria has one of the world's biggest arsenals of chemical weapons. According to intelligence-based reports, Syria has hundreds of tons of skin-blistering mustard gas and sarin, a lethal nerve agent. It also developed large stocks of VX, an even more deadly and persistent nerve agent than sarin. Weaponization followed, with the manufacture of up to 200 chemical warheads for its Russian-supplied Scud-B and Scud-C missiles, as well as thousands of chemical free-fall bombs and artillery shells. Intelligence sources believe that Syria has continued to replenish its arsenal (sarin and VX both have a limited shelf-life), spending as much as $2 billion a year on the program.