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Britain to Destroy Extra 50 Tons of Syrian Arms Chemicals


FILE - British Foreign Secretary William Hague addressees the media upon arrival at the EU foreign ministers council at the European Council headquarters in Luxembourg city, Luxembourg, June 23, 2014.
FILE - British Foreign Secretary William Hague addressees the media upon arrival at the EU foreign ministers council at the European Council headquarters in Luxembourg city, Luxembourg, June 23, 2014.

Britain said on Wednesday it would destroy a further 50 tons of material from Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, taking the total amount it has agreed to process to 200 tons.

Facing the threat of U.S. air strikes, Bashar al-Assad's government last year promised to dismantle its chemical arsenal, telling the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) it had 1,300 tons of such weapons.

Britain had previously agreed to accept 150 tons of Syrian poison gas precursors for destruction by French firm Veolia Environnement in northern England.

“A further 50 tons of the industrial chemicals hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride will also be destroyed in specialized commercial facilities in the UK,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a written statement to parliament.

FILE - A sticker on containers carrying Syria's dangerous chemical weapons, on the Danish cargo ship Ark Futura, in Cyprus coastal waters.
FILE - A sticker on containers carrying Syria's dangerous chemical weapons, on the Danish cargo ship Ark Futura, in Cyprus coastal waters.

​Hague said a ship carrying the chemicals was expected to arrive in Britain next week.

Foreign powers have scrambled to find countries to destroy the chemicals. The most toxic are first being processed on board a U.S. ship. Less dangerous precursor chemicals are being destroyed commercially at industrial facilities.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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