The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that 84.3% of chemical weapons, removed from Syria earlier this year, have been destroyed.
According to the organization’s destruction data, that includes 94.8% of Category 1 chemicals and 43.1% of Category 2 chemicals.
OPCW previously reported about the destruction of 31.8% of chemical weapons.
Last week, OPCW said that “all 581 metric tons of a precursor chemical for sarin gas that were removed from the Syrian Arab Republic and trans-loaded onto the US Maritime Vessel Cape Ray in early July, have been destroyed with neutralization technology aboard the ship while sailing in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea.”
A team of OPCW inspectors on the Cape Ray continuously monitored and verified the destruction operations.
After a deadly chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb in August 2011, Russia made a proposal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal that was later supported by the United States. Following the deal, Syria agreed to hand over its estimated 1,000-metric-ton arsenal to international control and joined the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention.
Photo: Danish cargo ship “Ark Futura”, which transports Syria's chemical agents for destruction
