Zee Media Bureau
Damascus: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has “jokingly” said that the Nobel Peace Prize should have been awarded to him. His comment comes after the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was given the award.
The prize, which was given to the OPCW, "should have been mine," Assad said.
The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize was on Friday awarded to the OPCW "for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons", the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced. The world`s chemical watchdog said it is "pleasantly surprised" at the recognition.
Syria recently became the 190th member-state of the OPCW. The signatory countries account for almost 98 percent of the world`s population.
At present only six countries still remain outside the convention. Two of them - Israel and Myanmar - way back in 1993 signed the CWC, thereby expressing their political support for its goals and principles.
After more than two years since the outbreak of the crisis, which has reportedly claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced almost one-third of the Middle East country`s population, an UN agency said, the Syrian people, including their children, are still in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
