THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The elements for ridding Syria of its declared stockpile of toxic chemicals are in place, but the unprecedented effort could be delayed, an official from the global chemical weapons watchdog said Tuesday after the group’s executive council reviewed the plan.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ 41-nation council asked Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu to report back Jan. 7 on progress, said the official.
According to a timeline agreed upon earlier, the most toxic chemicals in Syria’s weapons program were to have been removed by Dec. 31, and Syria’s entire program should be history by mid-2014.
But those deadlines have been cast into doubt by poor security in Syria, which is in the third year of a devastating civil war.
While the OPCW did not release the plan, the official confirmed that most elements already were known, based on offers made publicly by several countries.
The United States will use a mobile Field Deployable Hydrolysis System to process the most toxic chemicals.
