Syrian Chemical Weapons Equipment Destroyed

So says the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

BBC: 330mm chemical rocket

which recently won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to control chemical weapons. The announcement was a day before the deadline set by a UN Security Council resolution.  The weapons themselves have been placed under seal. Syria has until mid 2014 to destroy the weapons that are believed to include more than 1,000 tons of sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas, and mustard gas. Syrian has lost the capability to produce more chemical agents Jerry Smith, head of field operations, told BBC. OPCW has inspected 21 of the 23 chemical weapons sites in Syria; the last two were two dangerous to visit because of fighting but the equipment was already moved to other sites.

After a large barrage on August 21st killed upwards of 1400 people in the outskirts of Damascus, the United States threatened to use force against the Syrian government that it blamed for the attack [photo]. Russia, which supports Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad reached a last-minute agreement on September 14th with the US to disarm Syria of chemical weapons. The agreement lead to a unanimous Security Council resolution approving the US-Russian plan. Syria began acquiring the capacity to produce chemical weapons in the 1980's with the help of the Soviet Union. Some of the artillery and rocket canisters found by UN inspectors after the Ghouta attack bore Cyrillic markings indicating Soviet manufacture. The process of destroying all of those chemicals under civil war conditions will be a difficult and delicate task.