Watchdog: Syria destroyed chemical arms equipment

Watchdog: Syria destroyed chemical arms equipment

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria has completed the destruction of equipment used to produce chemical weapons, a global watchdog said today, meeting another deadline in an ambitious timeline to eliminate the country’s entire stockpile by mid-2014. The announcement highlights President Bashar Assad’s willingness to cooperate to avoid punitive international military action and puts further pressure on divided and outgunned rebels seeking to topple him ahead of a planned peace conference.