Watchdog group says all Syria chemical munitions have been destroyed

The group tasked with overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons said Friday that it had verified all of Syria’s unfilled munitions had been destroyed.

{mosads}The statement from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) marks another milestone in the effort to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons stockpiles.

The group was able to very all of the munitions were destroyed after reaching locations in the city of Homs that were previously inaccessible.

The United Nations and the OPCW, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year, are seeking to remove all chemical weapons from Syria by mid-2014, a task that’s being conducted in the midst of the nearly three-year civil war between Assad’s regime and opposition forces.

The United States is taking on an expanded role in the process by agreeing to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons at sea. The Pentagon is prepping a civilian ship for the task.

The destruction of Syria’s chemical stockpiles stems from an agreement reached earlier this year between the United States and Russia to avoid a potential U.S. strike in Syria.