OPCW announces removal of last portion of chemical weapon arsenal from Syria

The Hague, SANA _

The last of consignment Syria’s chemical weapons have been shipped from the country and are en route for destruction at sea, the world’s chemical weapons watchdog said on Monday.

As we speak, the ship (carrying the last chemicals) has just left the port (of Latakia),” Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said at a press conference in The Hague.

“Removing the stockpile of precursor and other chemicals has been a fundamental condition in the program to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program,” Uzumcu said.

“Despite the delay, the cooperation of the Syrian government was satisfactory,” he added.

Earlier, An official source at the Syrian National Committee for Implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry announced that on Monday June 23, 2014, the last shipment of chemical material was transported outside the Syrian Arab Republic.

Special Coordinator of the Joint Mission of the OPCW and the UN Sigrid Kaag, for her part, welcomed the completion of the chemicals removal, hailing the efforts of the Syrian government in the process.

“The joint mission appreciates the constructive cooperation and commitment shown by the Syrian government during the complicated process,” Kaag said in a statement.

Russia made a proposal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal that was later approved of by the US.

Following the deal, Syria agreed to hand over its arsenal to international control and joined the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention IN October 2013.

M. Ismael