US to destroy Syrian chemical weapons

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s government will try to move the most lethal components of its chemical weapons program to a port city by the end of the year, and the U.S. has offered to pick up and destroy the hazardous material at an offshore facility, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Syrian officials said Saturday.

The international organization’s directorgeneral, Ahmet Uzumcu, said in The Hague, Netherlands, that the U.S. government will contribute “a destruction technology, full operational support and financing to neutralize” the weapons — most likely on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The weapons are to be removed from Syria by Dec. 31.

Separately, the woman appointed as a go-between for the United Nations and the OPCW on destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile laid out some logistical details.

Sigrid Kaag said the weapons will first be sealed and packaged and then transported to Syria’s largest port, Latakia. Then they will be loaded onto ships before a second handoff to U.S. vessels.

The weapons and chemicals “will not be (destroyed) in Syrian territorial waters,” she said at a news conference in Damascus.

Kaag said the mission will require international contributions in terms of packaging material, other logistic needs and spe- cial equipment.

The OPCW was given the responsibility of overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal under an agreement reached between the U.S. and Syrian ally Russia on Sept. 14.

The U.S. shelved plans for a military strike on Syria’s government as punishment for a chemical weapons attack in August that killed hundreds of people, while Syria’s government acknowledged it possessed chemical weapons and committed to giving them up.

Since then, the OPCW has been scrambling to meet ambitious deadlines for disarming and destroying Syria’s estimated 1,300-ton arsenal.

All elements of Syria’s chemical weapons program are due to be eradicated by mid-2014.