A second team of inspectors will be sent to Syria to help those already working there to destroy the state’s stockpile of toxic munitions, the global chemical weapons watchdog said. This comes as Damascus releases of footage of the first mission at work.
On Tuesday, the destruction of the poison gas arsenal entered its
third day. RT has obtained video of experts working in Syria.
On the same day the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) said the first team will be rienforced by another
mission.
“The OPCW Technical Secretariat in The Hague will deploy a
second team of inspectors for the mission in Syria that will
augment the advance team of OPCW experts, who have been in Syria
since 1 October conducting verification and destruction
activities,” a statement on the official website read.
The Syrian government agreed to put its chemical arms under
international control for elimination after a sarin gas attack on
the outskirts of Damascus that killed hundreds of people on
August 21.
The first team of international experts arrived in the republic
on October 1. Damascus has been given until November 1 to destroy
production facilities and weapons-filling equipment. On Sunday,
Syrian officials – under OPCW supervision – began destroying some
of their toxic stockpiles.
The head of the OPCW, Ahmet Uzumcu, also said in Tuesday’s
statement that Syria had made “a constructive beginning for
what will nonetheless be a long and difficult process”.
United Nations’ Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon suggested setting
up a joint UN-OPCW mission comprised of 100 experts to be
deployed both in Damascus and on Cyprus to provide additional
“operational capabilities” in order to destroy the
arsenal.
The list of Syrian arms has not been disclosed, but according to
Western intelligence agencies the country has 1,000 metric tons
of sarin, mustard and VX nerve gas.