Meeting the demands put forth in a deal brokered by Russia and the United States last month, all chemical weapons production facilities controlled by the Syrian government have now been destroyed, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Thursday.
Syria “has completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable,” before the November 1 deadline placed on the country, the international chemical weapons watchdog stated.
“The finding confirms that Syria has met a major milestone in the elaborate disarmament process only one month after international inspectors first arrived in the country to begin the complex and politically sensitive operation,” the LA Times reports.
The next deadline, set for November 15, will be for the OPCW and Syria to agree on a detailed plan to destroy the reported 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons controlled by the Syrian government.
This article originally appeared in CommonDreams.