International weapons inspectors began destroying Syria's chemical weapons on Sunday, overseeing Syrian government workers using torches and grinders to launch a disarmament program that put potential U.S. military intervention in Syria on hold.
International weapons inspectors began destroying
Syria
's
chemical weapons on Sunday, overseeing Syrian government workers using torches and
grinders to launch a disarmament program that put potential
U.S.
military intervention in
Syria
on
hold.
Under a deal brokered last month by the
U.S.
and
Russia
,
Syria
agreed to give up its chemical weapons in a process aimed at eradicating
Damascus
's
1,000-metric-ton stockpile by the middle of next year.
Supervised by experts from the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons, "Syrian personnel used cutting torches and angle
grinders to destroy or disable a range of items," the OPCW and the U.N.
said in a joint statement. "This included missile warheads, aerial bombs
and mixing and filling equipment," they said, adding the process will
continue in the coming days.
Following an Aug. 21 chemical-weapons attack in a
Damascus
suburb
that killed hundreds of people, the
U.S.
threatened to strike government targets to degrade its ability to deploy
chemical weapons.
A U.N. investigation confirmed that sarin gas was used in the attack. While it
didn't assign blame, the
U.S.
and
its allies contend the Syrian government was behind the massacre.
Syria
and
its allies
Russia
and
Iran
say
opposition forces were responsible for the attack in an attempt to incriminate
the government and prompt
U.S.
intervention.
The deal to destroy
Syria
's
chemical arsenal instead was reached on Sept. 14. On the same day,
Syria
applied to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, which the OPCW oversees.
With Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
voting in the chamber, the U.N. Security Council endorsed the disarmament plan
on Sept. 28, putting off enforcement action to a second resolution if either
the government or opposition interfere with the stockpile's destruction.
The
U.S.
and
Russia
are
scheduled on Monday to hold their first high-level talks since sealing the
Syrian chemical-weapons deal, the Associated Press reported. Messrs. Kerry and
Lavrov planned to meet on the sidelines of an economic summit in
Indonesia
to
discuss
Syria
and
an apparent warming between
Iran
and
the West.
The OPCW's inspectors are moving into uncharted territory, having never worked
to eliminate chemical weapons in a war zone before, and under such a tight
deadline.
Under the Security Council decision,
Syria
's
ability to make chemicals weapons is supposed to be destroyed by Nov. 1. The
majority of the 1,000-metric-ton stockpile consists of precursor chemicals,
which can be more easily neutralized than produced chemical weapons, a senior
Western diplomat said. The destruction of equipment can also disable
Syria
's
ability to mix the agents into lethal weapons relatively quickly, the diplomat
said.
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