Pictures verify success of weapons clearance

The joint mission by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations, which is overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal, visited 21 of the sites last month but were unable to visit two – one in Aleppo province – because of security fears over fighting in the area.

Meanwhile government forces backed by fighters from two Shiite militias – Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraq’s Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas brigade – seized control of the suburb of Sabina south of Damascus, according to activists based in the UK.

The SANA state news agency also reported the government’s capture of Sabina, and said the areas had been used as a base to smuggle weapons and ammunition to rebel-held suburbs east of Damascus.

The Syrian government provided the weapons inspectors with photographs and footage of the facility near Aleppo that confirmed the site has been dismantled and abandoned, the OPCW-UN mission said in a statement on Thursday. It added that the building bore signs of “extensive battle damage.”