Syria has missed its self-imposed deadline of 27 April for eliminating its stocks of chemical weapons.  Still, the United Nations says that more than 92 percent of Syria’s arsenal had been shipped out of the country or destroyed.

“The biggest bulk of the chemical weapons material is removed but not yet destroyed and that counts towards the 30 June deadline,” said Sigrid Kaag, head of the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).  “That’s why it’s so important to get the remainder of the chemical weapons material that is still in one site.”

The UN deadline for the total destruction of Syria's chemical weapons is 30 June, and Kaag urged the government to destroy the remaining chemical material “in shortest possible time frame”.

The chemicals are being taken out of Syria through the port of Latakia, loaded onto Norwegian and Danish ships, and taken to the Italian port Gioia Tauro.  That’s where they will be transferred onto a ship specially-equipped to destroy the agents.