45% of Syria’s Chemical Weapons Removed

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons claimed Thursday that almost half of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile has been removed from the country’s control.

A total of 10 consignments of Syria’s most dangerous chemicals were loaded onto cargo vessels and shipped out of Latakia over the past week, BBC reports. They contained 45.6% of all the chemicals due to be taken from Syria to be destroyed, including blister agents like sulphur mustard.

The OPCW aims to get rid of all Syria’s chemical weapons by the end of June. The government in Damascus agreed to the initiative in 2013 after hundreds of people reportedly died in a chemical weapons attack just outside the city.

[BBC]