Syria makes an ‘initial declaration’ of chemical weapons

Spokesman Michael Luhan said the declaration was “being reviewed by our verification division”.

Mr Luhan said the organisation would not release details of what was in the declaration.

The OPCW is looking at ways to fast-track moves to secure and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles and production facilities.

However, diplomatic efforts to speed up the process are moving slowly. A meeting initially scheduled for tomorrow at which the organisation’s 41-nation executive council was to have discussed a US-Russian plan to swiftly rid Syria of chemical weapons was postponed yesterday and no new date was immediately set. No reason was given for the postponement.

Under a US-Russia agreement brokered last weekend in Geneva, inspectors are to be in Syria by November. During that month, they are to complete their initial assessment and all mixing and filling equipment for chemical weapons is to be destroyed.

All components of the chemical weapons programme are to be removed from the country or destroyed by mid-2014.

Meanwhile Syria’s main western-backed opposition group has slammed al-Qaida-linked gunmen and their expanding influence in the country, saying the jihadis seek to establish an Islamic state.

A statement from the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) follows days of vicious infighting in which the extremists seized control of the northern town of Azaz from mainstream opposition fighters.

The SNC says the actions of the al-Qaida-linked fighters “counter the principles that the Syrian revolution is trying to achieve”.

The group also warns that the Islamist fighters are “strengthening their positions” in opposition-controlled areas.

Co-ordinated attacks by al-Qaida militants in a southern province in Yemen have killed at least 38 soldiers and wounded dozens more, a military official said. The official said the attacks took place at dawn yesterday in Shabwa province.