THE HAGUE
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed on Friday the destruction of Syria's unfilled chemical weapons, key step towards eradicating the civil war-torn country's chemical weapons program by mid-2014.
The statement released from OPWC said the experts of its Joint Mission verified that all Category 3 (unfilled) munitions declared by the Arab nation have been destroyed.
The international chemical weapons watchdog noted that the team also verified the destruction of additional special features of buildings and structures at chemical weapons production facilities that were already rendered inoperable during the first phase of the mission.
"These activities were conducted at the Homs cluster of sites that had remained inaccessible for some time due to security reasons," added the statement.
The joint United Nations-OPCW mission in Syria intends to dispose of the most toxic chemicals fromSyria by the end of 2013 and take other toxic chemicals safely out of the country until February 5.
The Joint Mission also aims to destroy the chemicals at sea and eradicate the entire program by mid-2014 the latest.
Pooling a fund for the destruction process, the OPWC expects the first phase to cost about €35-40 million.
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