The Obama administration has agreed to destroy Syria’s most lethal chemical weapons at sea after failing to find a country willing to do it on their soil, the White House confirmed over the weekend.
The weapons make up a little less than half of Syria’s arsenal and are supposed to be out of the country by Dec. 31 under the terms of the deal reached in September between the U.S., Russia and Bashar Assad’s regime. The remaining weapons must be out of the country by Feb. 5, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – the group overseeing the disarmament effort – still hopes to find willing nations to accept them.
“We have offered and are currently outfitting a U.S. vessel with field deployable hydrolysis system technology to support the OPCW’s efforts,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told The Wall Street Journal.
Please send tips and comments to Julian Pecquet: jpecquet@digital-release.thehill.com
Follow us on Twitter: @TheHillGlobal and @JPecquetTheHill