Zee Media Bureau
Beirut: The international watchdog appointed to oversee the destruction of chemical weapon stockpile has missed an early deadline to visit the declared sites cited for the Damascus` chemical program.
The information was revealed in the first report submitted to the United Nations Security Council by Ahmet Uzumcu, Director General of Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), accessed by news agencies.
The reason behind the inspectors missing the October 27 deadline was the inability to visit two sites due to security concerns.
The UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon had written to the Security Council that the team would visit these areas as soon as possible, as per news agencies that have accessed the letter.
They were given the November 1 deadline to destroy Syria`s capability to produce the chemical weapons. Ban Ki-moon also expressed confidence on meeting the deadline for the destruction of chemical weapons.
Subsequently, they would demolish chemical weapons and then ensure complete eradication of the chemical agents, according to the UN Secretary General report that has been accessed by media agencies.
The war-torn country had declared 41 facilities at 23 chemical sites where it stored approximately 1,300 tons of chemical precursors and agents and 1,230 unfilled weapons. The declared sites are part of its poison and nerve agent program.
A team of 19 OPCW members and 16 UN members has been entrusted with the task of destroying the Syrian chemical weapon stockpile. The deadline for the chemical weapons destruction is by the mid of 2014.
