[Lamplighter]

I did not know they were working under a deadline...

Washington Post
10/5/13

UN official says chemical weapons inspectors begin destroying Syrian stockpile, machinery

<snip>Their first goal in the undertaking is to scrap the
Assad regime’s capacity to manufacture chemical weapons by Nov. 1.

“Today is the first day of the phase of destruction and disabling.
Verification will also continue,” the official, speaking on
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“The plan was that two types categories of materials would be destroyed:
one is equipment for making (weapons) — filling and mixing equipment,
some of it mobile, and some it static. The other is actual munitions.”

Developed during the 1980s and 1990s, Syria’s chemical arsenal is believed
to contain mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, VX and tabun.

Inspectors can use any means to destroy equipment, including crude techniques
like taking sledgehammers to control panels or driving tanks over empty vats.
But the second phase — destroying battle-ready weapons, is more difficult,
time-consuming and expensive. It can be done by incinerating materials
in sealed furnaces at ultra-high temperatures, or by transforming precursor chemicals
or diluting them with water.<snip>