With 60 percent of Syria’s chemical warheads destroyed, next stage of disarmament is set
With 60 percent of Syria’s chemical warheads destroyed, next stage of disarmament is set
By Matthew Schofield
McClatchy Foreign Staff
November 15, 2013
BERLIN — Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal will be emptied of most “critical chemicals” by the new year, and inspection teams already have overseen the destruction of 60 percent of the country’s unfilled warheads, according to the latest report from the international body responsible for dealing with the task.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced Friday that it has completed a “detailed plan of destruction to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.” Under that plan, the Syrian arsenal will be destroyed “no later than June 30, 2014.”
The new plan notes that all warheads and bombs would be destroyed by the end of January.
The statement was the latest sign that the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal is proceeding far more smoothly than many had anticipated just two months ago, when the United States and Russia first agreed to the disarmament as a way to head off a U.S. threat of military force. The process of destroying chemical weapons in countries with arsenals the size of Syria’s – about 1,540 tons, according to the OPCW – has taken years.
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