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OPCW Sets Syrian Weapons Deadline

Chemical weapons will be destroyed by mid-2014.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has approved a deadline for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. The organization, jointly with the United Nations, began inspecting Syrian sites in October. In a statement released after the OPCW’s executive council met on Friday, members said that chemical weapons would be taken outside Syria to “ensure their destruction in the safest and soonest manner and no later than June 30, 2014.” The plan states that all declared chemical substances except for isopropanol (which, though used in the production of nerve gas, is also widely used as a solvent) will be removed from the country no later than February 5.