Chemical Weapons Are Removed From Syria

The last of Syria’s declared chemical weapons stockpile has been shipped out of the country for destruction overseas, says the United Nations’ chemical weapons watchdog group. The final 8% of Syria’s acknowledged 1,320-metric-ton arsenal of chemical weapons and precursors was loaded onto a Danish freighter, which departed the Syrian port of Latakia on June 23, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The next step involves delivering about 560 tons of the most dangerous substances, including more than 20 tons of liquid sulfur mustard agent, to a specially modified U.S. vessel, the MV Cape Ray. The transfer will take place in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro, and the U.S. ship will begin neutralizing the chemicals at an undisclosed location in the Mediterranean Sea in the next few weeks. The remaining weapons materials will be shipped to land-based incineration facilities in Finland, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. Destroying the chemicals on board the Cape Ray will take at least 60 days, and the land-based processes are expected to take four months or more.