Syria Delivers Another Shipment of Chemical Weapons for Disposal

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/world/middleeast/syria-chemical-weapons.html

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GENEVA — Syria delivered another consignment of deadly chemical weapons to the port of Latakia on Thursday, the third delivery in a week to be shipped abroad for destruction and further evidence that it has stepped up the pace of shipments after coming under international pressure over earlier delays.

With Thursday’s shipment, consisting entirely of the most lethal category of chemicals, Syria has delivered half of its total stockpile and more than one-third of its deadliest Priority 1 agents, according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international agency that is overseeing the program.

Syria had initially committed to complete the export of all 1,200 tons of its chemical warfare agents by Feb. 6 but did not start the process until early January, and last month it set a new deadline of the end of April for completing the process. “Things are looking pretty good now,” said Michael Luhan, a spokesman for the watchdog agency, which based in The Hague.

The agency said a team of experts was in Syria to help plan for the destruction of 12 facilities involved in the chemical weapons program. Syria proposed rendering the facilities inoperable, a measure criticized by the United States and other Western countries as easily reversible and falling far short of the requirement under the chemical weapons convention that all aspects of its program be destroyed.

Syria is scheduled to present a revised proposal for dealing with the facilities at a meeting of the chemical weapons organization’s executive council in The Hague on March 28.