Chemical Watchdog supports Syrian proposal on destruction of weapons outside country

Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ahmet Uzumcu, said Tuesday Syria's proposal to destroy chemical weapons outside the country "constitutes the most viable option." Uzumcu, addressing the 34th meeting of OPCW's Executive Council, was referring to Syria's general plan for the destruction of Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons and said the proposal provided by Damascus that "the destruction of chemical weapons be carried out outside of the country constitutes the most viable option." He provided the Executive Council with an update on the progress made in the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria since the publication of his first Report, on 25 October 2013. He noted that Syria's proposal was based on "practical challenges of carrying out destruction work in the midst of an armed conflict," as well as on "resource limitations." Uzumcu added that discussions aimed at finalising plans for the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria would commence soon with the participation of a Syrian delegation arriving in The Hague today. According to an OPCW press release, Uzumcu informed the council that verification and functional destruction activities had been completed within the deadlines of 27 October and 1 November, respectively, at all 21 sites, except for two which could not be visited due to safety and security reasons. Items from these two sites had been moved to other accessible sites and verified against the disclosure submitted by Syria. The Director General added that "for the month of November, verification of destruction of category III chemical weapons will continue, and destruction of specialised equipment and buildings at production, mixing and filling plants is also envisaged." Category III chemical weapons are unfilled munitions. As of today, Syria has reported the destruction of 99 such warheads at one site, with another 55 warheads expected to be destroyed at a second site. Similar destruction work has commenced at five other sites