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Weapons Inspectors Report Progress In Syria

A convoy of inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons crosses into Syria at the Lebanese border crossing point of Masnaa on Tuesday.
Bilal Hussein
/
AP
A convoy of inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons crosses into Syria at the Lebanese border crossing point of Masnaa on Tuesday.

An international team overseeing the dismantling of Syria's chemical weapons program reports that it's making "encouraging initial progress," according to the United Nations.

"Documents handed over [Wednesday] by the Syrian Government look promising, according to team members," the United Nations said in a statement on Thursday.

The joint team of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weaponsand the United Nations says "further analysis, particularly of technical diagrams, will be necessary and some more questions remain to be answered."

The Associated Press reports:

"The inspectors said in a statement Thursday that the team 'hopes to begin onsite inspections and the initial disabling of equipment within the next week,' but doing so depends on the work of technical groups established with Syrian experts."

The U.N. Security Council resolution gives the team nine months to complete the task of certifying the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.
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