DHAKA: Syria won foreign praise on Monday for starting to destroy its chemical arsenal, although an opposition activist said the world was merely giving president Bashar al-Assad time to kill more people with conventional weapons.

An official from the international mission overseeing the stockpile’s elimination said Damascus had made an excellent start, and the United States acknowledged its rapid compliance with a United Nations resolution on destroying chemical weapons as extremely significant.

The official described Sunday’s operations in which Syrian forces used cutting torches and angle grinders to render missile warheads and bombs unuseable.

However, he noted that this was only the start of work that is due to last until mid-2014 and requires the cooperation of all sides.

‘It was an excellent first day, with the stress on the word first,’ the official told media, declining to be named, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1930 HRS, OCT 07, 2013
RoR/JCK