An additional 12 chemical weapons experts arrived in Syria on Thursday, bringing the number of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons members to 27.
According to Chinese state-run news organization Xinhua, head of the OPCW Ahmet Uzumcu said during a press conference at The Hague, a municipality in the Netherlands where the seat of government is located. Uzumcu told the media that a temporary ceasefire had been issued in Syria that would allow the chemical weapons experts to work quickly and safely. He stressed that the experts are under "extremely tight" deadlines to destroy Syria's stock of chemical weapons.
"I think that the elimination of those weapons is in the interest of all," Xinhua reported Uzumcu as saying. "Therefore, if we can assure some cooperation by all parties, and some temporary ceasefire could be established in order to permit our experts to work in a permissible environment...I think the targets could be reached."
Uzumcu added that the Syrian government was working closely and cooperatively with the inspectors, echoing sentiments voiced by Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during a trip to Indonesia last week. Kerry and Lavrov told Reuters that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government made great strides in handing over their chemical weapons after signing a resolution written by the U.N.
Even though the international community gave Damascus praise for its cooperation, Kerry still stressed the importance of following through on the agreement.
"Let me be crystal clear," Kerry told reporters at the media conference. "We're very pleased with the pace of what has happened with respect to chemical weapons...I think it is...credit to the Assad regime for complying rapidly as they are supposed to. We hope that it will continue. Now, I am not going to vouch today for what happens months down the road. But it is a good beginning and we should welcome a good beginning."
