Albania has rejected a US request to host the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, saying it was ill-equipped to handle the disposal of thousands of tonnes of toxic waste.
The announcement by the NATO member and staunch US ally on Friday marks a setback for a Russian-American plan to get rid of Syria's sarin and other nerve agents deemed too dangerous to eliminate amid the country's civil war.
Negotiations went down to the wire, delaying scheduled discussions of the plan at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.
"It is impossible for Albania to get involved in this operation," Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a televised address to the nation.