200 tons of Syrian chemicals in UK for destruction

A 200-ton shipment of Syrian chemicals once stockpiled to make weapons has arrived in Britain where it will be destroyed.

A Ministry of Defense spokesman on Tuesday described the materials as no more dangerous than industrial chemicals and said they were in Britain after a long operation to disable Syria’s chemical weapons capability.

Syria finished handing over its 1,300 tons of chemical stockpiles in June in an effort to avoid U.S. airstrikes threatened after a chemical attack on a rebel-held suburb near Damascus was believed to have killed more than 1,000 people.

The chemicals are being disposed of at sites in various countries.

Britain’s Royal Navy played a role in escorting the shipments, part of an operation overseen by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.