Syria’s chemical weapons equipment destroyed, OPCW says
All production and mixing equipment for chemical weapons in Syria has been destroyed, inspectors report. It means the deal forged to disarm Syria of chemical weapons is still on track.
It will be hoped that the step will prevent the Assad regime from manufacturing any new chemical weapons. The news comes from an internal document from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The OPCW said in the document that 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.
Read more: Syria interactive: Damascus - chemical weapons capital
“The OPCW is satisfied it has verified, and seen destroyed, all declared critical production/mixing/filling equipment from all 23 sites,” the document said.
Russia and America agreed a disarmament plan for Syria’s chemical weapons in September, after chemical weapons attacks killed hundreds in Damascus in August in scenes posted on Youtube that show distressing footage of many including children dying from sarin gas. The attacks were blamed on President Assad.
Under the disarmament timetable, Syria was due to render unusable all production and chemical weapons filling facilities by November 1 – a target it has now met. By mid-2014 it must have destroyed its entire stockpile of chemical weapons.
However the news comes as another danger threatens the Syrian people – an epidemic of polio. Watch our report below.