22 Sep 2013

Chemical weapons deadline met by Syria

2:18 pm on 22 September 2013

Syria has provided information about its chemical arsenal to a United Nations agency, meeting the first deadline set for it to do so.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague said on Saturday it had "received the expected disclosure" from Syria and was reviewing the information.

Syria agreed to abide by a deal between Russia and the United States, to avoid military action by the US, after sarin gas was used against civilians in Damascus on 21 August.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier set a deadline of Saturday for Syria to give a full account of the weapons it possesses.

Russia says it is not clear who was behind the incident, in which 1429 civilians died. President Bashar al-Assad blames it on rebel forces.