Global watchdog: Waste from destruction at sea of Syrian chemical weapons has been disposed of

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The global chemical weapons watchdog says that waste created on board a U.S. ship that destroyed toxic chemicals from Syria's stockpile has been successfully disposed of.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced Wednesday that the disposal of thousands of tons of waste was completed earlier this month at facilities in Germany and Finland.

OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu called it "yet another milestone on the path to eliminating chemical weapons stocks from Syria."

Syria joined the OPCW in 2013 to ward off possible U.S. airstrikes following a deadly chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb.

Of the 1,328 metric tons of chemical weapons and precursor chemicals Damascus declared, only 16 metric tons of hydrogen fluoride remain to be destroyed at a plant in Port Arthur, Texas.