Italy receives shipment of Syrian chemical weapons

chemiA Danish freighter carrying Syrian chemical weapons arrived at a port in southern Italy on Wednesday ahead of their destruction at sea.

The weapons are to be transferred to a US military ship and then destroyed in international waters in the final phase of a program to rid Syria of its chemical arms stockpile.

The port of Gioia Tauro has stepped up security for the shipment’s arrival, sealing off access roads and barring entry to any non-authorized people, while a military helicopter flew overhead.

The chemical agents will be transferred from the Danish ship the Ark Futura to the US cargo vessel MV Cape Ray and then destroyed.

Syria shipped out its stockpile of chemical weapons under the terms of a UN-backed and US-Russia brokered agreement to head off Western air strikes against the regime last year.