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US presses for destruction of Syrian chemical weapons facilities

The United States on Wednesday called for closer monitoring of the long-delayed destruction of a dozen chemical weapons production facilities in Syria, which is several months behind schedule.

 

Damascus has handed over 1,300 metric tonnes of toxic chemicals but not yet destroyed a series of underground bunkers and hangars used to produce and store its deadly stockpile.

 

Syria joined the chemical weapons convention last year after a sarin gas attack on August 21 killed hundreds of civilians in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. President Bashar al-Assad's government and rebel forces blamed each other for the strike.

 

It is "disappointing that the destruction of the twelve chemical weapons production facilities originally declared by Syria is limping along and is now significantly behind schedule," said Bob Mikulak, the US representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.03.14, 18:32