OPCW Says Syria Starts Removing Chemical Weapons

Syria has started moving its chemical weapons materials out of the country under the watch of the Joint Mission of the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The Joint Mission on Tuesday said the materials had been moved from two sites to the port of Latakia and then loaded onto a Danish commercial vessel.

Mehmet Uzumcu, OPCW director-general, said in a statement that the move is an important step in starting the transportation as part of the plan to complete the disposal of the weapons outside Syria.

Uzumco has encourage the Syrian government to maintain momentum in removing the priority chemicals so that these will be destroyed outside its territory as quickly as possible.

The transport is part of the crucial phase of an internationally backed disarmament plan that has been delayed by war and technical problems.

Under the said plan, the chemicals materials will be taken from the Syrian port of Latakia to a port in Italy, where they will be transferred to a US navy vessel, the Cape Ray, which has the equipment to destroy them at sea.

Joint Mission coordinator for the UN and OPCW, Sigrid Kaag, has said the first shipment indicates that progress is being made.

Kaag said the shipment is the first in a series of moves that the Syrian authorities are expected to do to ensure that all chemical agents will be taken out of Syria.

China, Denmark, Norway and Russia are providing maritime security for the cargo.

Syria had agreed to dispose its chemical weapons by June under a deal proposed by Russia and agreed with the United States after the August 21 sarin gas attack that Westerns blamed on President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces. Damascus, however, blames rebels for the attack.

Washington welcomed the removal of the chemicals and said Assad’s government appeared to be sticking to the deal, Aljazeera.net reported.

The removal of the chemicals was scheduled before December 31, but conflict, logistical problems and bad weather had delayed the operation.

Aljazeera reported the OPCW turned to the US military for assistance after no country volunteered to destroy the chemical weapons on its soil, despite having an international consensus that the chemicals be neutralized outside Syria.

The US-Russia agreement was aimed at heading off US military attacks against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime after hundreds of people were killed last August in a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus, Aljazeera.net reported.

Source: Aljazeera.net

Image Credit: Aljazeera.com