Syria has “categorically” denied ever using chemical weapons in its four-year civil war, telling a global watchdog it is cooperating fully with the destruction of its toxic stockpile.

Syria’s deputy foreign minister Faysal Mekdad rejected the claims, saying that only a few “technical elements” remained to be ironed out.

“We wish here to state categorically that we have never used chlorine or any other toxic chemicals during any incidents or any other operations in the Syrian Arab Republic since the beginning of the crisis and up to this very day,” Mr Mekdad told delegates from 192 states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Syria declared an arsenal of 1,300 tons of chemical weapons when it joined the OPCW in 2013 under pressure from the international community following a deadly chemical attack on a Damascus neighbourhood.

More than 99 per cent of those weapons have been destroyed, but questions remain about whether Syria declared all of its stockpiles

Sources: MENA