Syria has only delivered 4.1% of its chemical weapons stockpile and will miss the deadline of removing all chemicals by next week. The two shipments totaling 4.1% of the 1,300 metric tons reported were delivered to the port of Latakia this month. The U.N. Secretary-General and sources say Syria needs to speed up the process as it is now 6-8 weeks behind schedule. During a meeting on Thursday, Syria will be told it must show it is serious about relinquishing its chemical weapons.

1. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Syria has given up less than five percent of its chemical weapons arsenal and
will miss next week's deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, sources familiar with the
matter said on Wednesday.
The deliveries, in two shipments this month, to the northern Syrian port of Latakia totaled 4.1 percent of
the roughly 1,300 metric tons of toxic agents reported by Damascus to the Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The internationally backed operation, overseen by a joint OPCW-United Nations mission, is now 6-8
weeks behind schedule. Damascus needs to show it is still serious about relinquishing its chemical
weapons, the sources told Reuters.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council this week that shipments
had been unnecessarily delayed and urged the government of President Bashar al-Assad to speed up the
process.
That is the message that will be given to Syria's representative to the OPCW during its executive council
meeting on Thursday in The Hague, where the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization is located, the
sources said.
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Under a deal agreed by Russia and the United States after an August 21 sarin gas attack, Syria vowed to
give up its entire stockpile by mid-2014. The rocket attacks in the outskirts of Damascus killed hundreds,
including women and children.
Syria, where civil war has killed more than 100,000 people and forced millions to flee, has blamed delays
on security obstacles. It said the mission could not be safely carried out unless it received armored
vehicles and communications equipment.

2. A source briefed on the situation said: "Yes, it's true there is a war, but have you ever heard of a civil war
without security issues? They have all the necessary means they need for transportation. Now they need
to start shipping the chemicals out."
Eradicating Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, including sarin, mustard gas and VX, requires massive
foreign funding and logistical support.
The bulk of the most toxic substances are to be destroyed on the Cape Ray, a U.S. cargo ship now en
route to the Mediterranean, which will be loaded with the chemicals at an Italian port. The remainder will
go to several commercial waste processing facilities, including in Britain and Germany.