Syria Chemical Weapons Mission Strengthened

A second team of inspectors will be deployed to destroy Syria's poison gas stockpile, the world's chemical weapons watchdog has said, as the UN chief warned of the "dangerous and volatile" conditions experts faced in the country.

Ahmet Uzumcu, Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, confirmed that Syria was co-operating with the joint United Nations and OPCW disarmament mission.

It normally takes years to complete the destruction of a country's chemical weapons arsenal.

The watchdog has until the end of the June 2014 to complete the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal under the terms of a Russia-US brokered agreement, after a toxic gas attack near Damascus on August 21 in which hundreds died.

A range of items was also being destroyed "towards the goal of rendering unusable all production facilities and mixing and filling equipment by 1 November of this year", Mr Uzumcu said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon highlighted the threat to the experts

"These developments present a constructive beginning for what will nonetheless be a long and difficult process," he added.

Earlier, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon set out a blueprint for the most dangerous disarmament operation ever staged, as rebels launched a major offensive in northwest Syria - highlighting the looming threats to inspectors.

The 11-page letter was Mr Ban's required response to the resolution adopted unanimously by the Security Council on September 27, ordering Syria's chemical weapons stockpile be secured and destroyed.

Mr Ban said the experts "will seek to conduct an operation the likes of which, quite simply, have never been tried before".

He said: "The timelines associated with this destruction phase would be ambitious under the most peaceful and benign of circumstances."

Gas canisters in Syria's chemical arsenal

The experts will have to work in "dangerous and volatile" conditions, particularly in urban areas such as Damascus, Homs and Aleppo, the UN leader said.

"Heavy artillery, air strikes, mortar barrages and the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas are commonplace, and battle lines shift quickly," he added.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State John Kerry, who were both at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Bali, used the opportunity to discuss the disarmament.

Mr Putin said both countries had "a common understanding of what needs to be done", adding that he believed inspectors would be able to accomplish their goal of ridding Syria of its chemical arms within a year.

"We and the Americans, the whole international community trust them," he said.

UN weapons inspectors at the site of the August 21 attack

"If they are saying it is possible to do this (eliminate Syria's chemical arms) in one year, then that's the way it is," he said.

Mr Putin, who has been a staunch ally of President Bashar al Assad, also praised the Syrian government - which remains responsible for the actual destruction of the chemicals - for its co-operation.

"The doubts regarding the readiness of the Syrian leadership to adequately respond to the decisions on chemical weapons proved to be unjustified," he said.

"Syria has joined these efforts actively, is acting very transparently ... and I hope this work will continue further at the same pace and in the same direction."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the situation in Syria remained "catastrophic" for civilians, but the weapons mission "was an important step forward".

In a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, he said British nationals who work for the OPCW were part of an advance team of 35 personnel from the watchdog and UN already in Damascus.

On Sunday, Syrians - under the supervision of the OPCW and supported by the UN - began to destroy the weapons.

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