Syria chemical disarmament officially starts

The team of 20 international inspectors who have been issued the task to ensure that Syria chemical weapons are destroyed have crossed the border into the Arab country. On Monday, international chemical weapons inspectors completed investigations surrounding the alleged Sarin gas attacks in the country.

On the same day the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) left the Netherlands to begin a complex mission of finding and dismantling an estimated 1,000-ton chemical arsenal, which includes Sarin and mustard gas, scattered across some 45 different sites nationwide.

The mission follows a UN resolution which demanded that Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal be destroyed.

The procedure to purge the country of chemical weapons stocks has a target finish date of mid-2014. 

The OPCW group crossed from Lebanon over the Masnaa border crossing.

The team responsible consists of engineers, chemists and paramedics, alongside some members of other professions.

Their mission, beginning Tuesday, the team will be given 30 days before they are required to submit a report.