DHAKA: Syria has shipped out about a third of its chemical weapons stockpile, including mustard gas, for destruction abroad.

The global chemical arms watchdog said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague said Damascus had now handed over six consignments of the toxic agents it declared to the OPCW as part of a Russian-US deal struck last year.

The OPCW said it had confirmed two more shipments headed for the northern Syrian port of Latakia. They are to be transferred to the US ship MV Cape Ray and commercial destruction facilities in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Syria had also submitted a revised plan to remove all chemicals from its territory by the end of April 2014, the OPCW said. That proposal was being negotiated at an executive council meeting at the OPCW.

BDST: 2011 HRS, MAR 04, 2014