DHAKA: Syria is on target to meet a looming deadline to destroy its chemical weapons production equipment, even though inspectors have yet to visit all sites, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, says in a progress report.

‘The functional destruction of the declared capacity of the Syrian Arab Republic is expected to be completed as planned by November 1,’ Ban said in the report to the UN Security Council obtained by Al Jazeera.

The report stated that personnel from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the UN had completed inspections at 37 of the 41 facilities, and that ‘as at the cut-off date of this report, the findings of the inspections corroborated the information provided by the Syrian Arab Republic about the above-mentioned facilities’.

Destruction of the chemical production and mixing facilities is the first major deadline of a tight timetable set out by the Security Council to eliminate all of Syria’s chemical weapons by June 30 next year.

Syria still has an estimated 1,000 tonnes of chemicals to be destroyed and no plan has yet been agreed for the risky operation, officials said.

BDST: 1649 HRS, OCT 29, 2013
RoR/RK