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Syria: joint OPCW-UN chemical weapons team verifies site in Aleppo

An advance team of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arriving in Damascus, Syria, on 1 October 2013.
UN Photo/Hend Abdel Ghany
An advance team of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arriving in Damascus, Syria, on 1 October 2013.

Syria: joint OPCW-UN chemical weapons team verifies site in Aleppo

The Joint Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations overseeing destruction of Syria’s weapons stockpiles today confirmed verifying 22 of the 23 sites disclosed by Damascus.

“The additional site inspected is in the region of Aleppo and was one of the two sites that could not be visited earlier due to safety and security reasons,” a UN spokesperson told journalists in New York.

“The site was confirmed as dismantled and long abandoned, with the building showing extensive battle damage,” the spokesperson said.

The verification was conducted with the support of sealed cameras used by Syrian personnel as per the inspection team’s guidance.

The exact geographical location and the time of capture of the footage and images were “fully authenticated”, according to the information provided by the spokesperson.

Information about the Joint Mission in Syria is now available on a dedicated website launched today.

The site provides background on the establishment of the Joint Mission, its mandate and its activities relating to the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons programme.

Available only in English so far, a version in Arabic is expected to follow at a later date, said the spokesperson.