Beirut – Syria has destroyed all of its declared chemical
weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major
deadline in an ambitious disarmament programme, the
international chemical weapons watchdog said.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
said in the document its teams had inspected 21 out of 23
chemical weapons sites across the country.
The other two were too dangerous to inspect but the
chemical equipment had already been moved to other sites
which experts had visited, it said.
“The OPCW is satisfied it has verified, and seen destroyed,
all declared critical production/mixing/filling equipment
from all 23 sites,’’ the document said.
Under a Russian-American brokered deal, Damascus
agreed to destroy all its chemical weapons after
Washington threatened to use force in response to the
killing of hundreds of people in a sarin attack on the
outskirts of Damascus on Aug. 21.
The U.S. and its allies blamed Assad’s forces for the attack
and several earlier incidents.
The Syrian president has rejected the charge, blaming rebel
brigades.
Under the disarmament timetable, Syria was due to render
unusable all production and chemical weapons filling
facilities by Nov. 1 – a target it has now met.
By mid-2014 it must have destroyed its entire stockpile of
chemical weapons. (Reuters/NAN)