Last of Syria’s Known Chemical Arms Are Shipped Abroad for Destruction
By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE and RICK GLADSTONE, NYT, JUNE 23, 2014
GENEVA — After months of delay, Syria exported the last of its known supplies of chemical weapons components on Monday for destruction overseas, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced, calling it a major achievement in a country engulfed by war.
But the organization, which is helping oversee Syria’s compliance with its chemical disarmament promises, stopped short of pronouncing Syria free of all chemical weapons. It said that verification work was not complete and reminded the Syrian authorities that they have not yet destroyed — as required — a dozen facilities used for making and mixing the munitions. A separate inquiry by the organization into suspected use of chlorine gas bombs in the conflict is also pending.
Syria delivered the final stocks of the more than 1,300 tons of chemical agents it had declared to the port of Latakia, where they were loaded aboard a Danish vessel that left Monday afternoon, said Ahmet Uzumcu, director general of the organization, which has been collaborating with the United Nations to monitor Syria’s vows.
“The declared chemical weapons have left Syria,” he said at a news conference at the headquarters of the chemical weapons organization in The Hague, but he made clear that his group could not say categorically that Syria no longer possessed any chemical weapons.
(More here.)
GENEVA — After months of delay, Syria exported the last of its known supplies of chemical weapons components on Monday for destruction overseas, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced, calling it a major achievement in a country engulfed by war.
But the organization, which is helping oversee Syria’s compliance with its chemical disarmament promises, stopped short of pronouncing Syria free of all chemical weapons. It said that verification work was not complete and reminded the Syrian authorities that they have not yet destroyed — as required — a dozen facilities used for making and mixing the munitions. A separate inquiry by the organization into suspected use of chlorine gas bombs in the conflict is also pending.
Syria delivered the final stocks of the more than 1,300 tons of chemical agents it had declared to the port of Latakia, where they were loaded aboard a Danish vessel that left Monday afternoon, said Ahmet Uzumcu, director general of the organization, which has been collaborating with the United Nations to monitor Syria’s vows.
“The declared chemical weapons have left Syria,” he said at a news conference at the headquarters of the chemical weapons organization in The Hague, but he made clear that his group could not say categorically that Syria no longer possessed any chemical weapons.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home