Syria's chemical attack ability 'limited' after OPCW destroys key equipment

Syria's ability to launch a large-scale chemical attack has been limited following destruction of all its key equipment and facilities by international inspectors, US and European officials said.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that its inspection teams have confirmed that major portion of the equipment used by Syria to prepare its chemical munitions have been rendered inoperable, the Washington Post reports.

The OPCW teams had visited 21 out-of-23 chemical-weapons sites declared by Syria, and in some cases even smashed the machines with hammers that were being used to fill chemical warheads with sarin and other lethal toxins.

The two remaining sites, located in areas designated to be unsafe because of rebel fighters, are believed to be just storage facilities, deemed irrelevant by the inspectors in their search for the arsenals.

Syria agreed to surrender its stockpile under a Russia-American diplomatic deal, after the Obama administration threatened to launch a military strike as punishment for allegedly attacking two Damascus suburbs with sarin gas on August 21, killing more than 1,400 people in the war-torn nation.