Chemical weapons inspectors visit 3 sites in Syria

Team intends to review a total of 20 locations, including some that require crossing through rebel-held territory

By AP and ToI Staff 10 October 2013, 1:42 pm

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Video broadcast on Syrian State Television purports to show an UN expert examining a chemical weapons plant at an unknown location in Syria, October 8, 2013 (AP/Syrian State Television)

A spokesman for the international weapons inspectors in Syria confirmed on Thursday they have visited three sites so far across the country, working on a tight schedule to destroy its chemical arms stockpile and program.

The UN has tasked the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to rid Syria of its stockpile by mid-2014 — the tightest deadline ever given to the OPCW and the first conducted amid a civil war.

Twenty-seven inspectors are meant to visit over 20 sites, at times having to cross rebel-held territory to reach some sites. The UN hopes to organize cease-fires between rebels and government forces to ensure safe passage.

In The Hague, OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan said Thursday the first series of sites on the inspectors’ list are “relatively securely” within government-held territory.

On Tuesday, Syrian state television broadcast a video clip purporting to show the inspectors reviewing equipment and storage tanks at an unidentified site.