Norway to send ships to Syria to ferry weapons out

UN’s Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has still not formulated a plan to destroy Assad’s stockpiles

By AP 15 November 2013, 12:53 am

Edit

Borge Brende (center), Norway’s Foreign Minister (AP/The United Nations, Amanda Voisard)

Norway is the first country to say it will send military servicemen to Syria to help the UN eliminate President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende told The Associated Press in an interview that Norway will send a civilian cargo ship and a Navy frigate to Syrian ports to pick up the weapons and carry them elsewhere for destruction.

The UN’s Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is still working out the plan for destroying the stockpiles.

Fifty servicemen usually accompany a Norwegian frigate, but Brende said destroying the weapons is a Norwegian obligation.

He said the operation “is not risk-free.” But Brende says leaving the weapons in Syria is an even bigger risk.