Middle Orient News

A first shipment of chemical materials was moved from Syria on Tuesday, which initiated the process of transferring chemical weapons from the country to locations outside its territory for destruction.

The Turkish authorities have detained a truck loaded with weapons which was heading to Syria, in the province of Hatay, Turkey.

The United States condemns the ongoing air assault by Syrian government forces on civilians, including the indiscriminate use of SCUD missiles and barrel bombs in and around Aleppo over the last week, the White House said on

Syrian warplanes have killed more than 300 people, including 87 children, in an eight-day bombing campaign against rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said Dec. 23.

The United Nations plans to precede its internationally brokered peace talks between Syria’s warring sides next month with a one-day meeting of foreign ministers in the Swiss city of Montreux.

The United States and Britain have suspended all non-lethal assistance into Northern Syria, citing concerns that the equipment could end up in the hands of al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

Interim Prime Minister of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) Ahmad Ta’ma held talks on Thursday with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on the preparations for the International Geneva II Conference.

EU interior ministers met here Thursday and discussed among other subjects the issue of the European fighters in the armed conflict zones, Syria in particular.

Sergei Lavrov will visit Iran next week to discuss the interim deal reached by world powers and Tehran over its nuclear program and other issues.

The chemical materials will be, first, sent overland to the Syrian northern port of Latakia, where they will be shipped to another unspecified foreign harbor before being transferred to a specially equipped US naval vessel capable of safely destroying them at sea using hydrolysis — a process for chemicals’ decomposition.