BEIRUT — The Syrian government has shipped out almost 90 percent of its chemical weapons material, raising hopes that the war-ravaged nation can meet a Sunday deadline to comply with a disarmament accord, an international regulator said Tuesday.
The latest shipment on Tuesday to the Mediterranean port of Latakia means that 86.5 percent of the weapons material has been removed, according to a statement from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is overseeing destruction of Syria’s toxic chemical stockpile.
That amount includes 88.7 percent of the 700 metric tons of the most toxic, “priority 1” chemicals, among them mustard gas and precursor materials for the nerve agents sarin and VX.
In a deal approved by the United Nations, Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed last year to surrender his nation’s decades-old chemical weapons arsenal to avert U.S. airstrikes, which had been threatened in response to poison gas attacks outside Damascus.
Washington and its allies blamed Assad’s forces for the Aug. 21, 2013, chemical strikes. Assad and Russia alleged that U.S.-backed rebels mounted the lethal assault in a covert bid to frame Damascus and spur U.S. strikes.
