An advance team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations arrives in Damascus, Syria, four days after the OPCW Executive Council and the UN Security Council unanimously endorsed a plan to begin the process of overseeing the destruction of the country’s chemical weapons program. The team, which includes 19 OPCW inspectors and 14 UN staff members, went into Syria over land from the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Weapons inspectors in Syria said "Syrian authorities were cooperative" in the process of destroying the country's chemical weapons arsenal.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which has had a team in Syria since Oct. 1, said the process of destroying chemical weapons stockpiles started Sunday and that Syrian personnel began disabling warheads, aerial bombs and mixing equipment in the presence of inspectors.
"Discussions were held with the Syrian authorities on the disclosure which Syria earlier provided to the OPCW on its chemical weapons program. The discussions were constructive and the Syrian authorities were cooperative," a statement from the organization said.
U.N. weapons inspectors confirmed the nerve agent sarin was used during an attack on a suburb of Damascus in August. The inspectors were not mandated to assess blame.
