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Syria weapons moved onto US ship for destruction

Cargo containers carrying hundreds of tons of Syrian chemical weapons were loaded onto a US cargo ship on Wednesday for destruction at sea, one of the final phases of the international effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapon stockpile. The chemicals had crossed the Mediterranean aboard the Danish ship Ark Futura, which steamed into the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro as the sun rose on Wednesday. Waiting there was the US cargo vessel MV Cape Ray, which arrived a day earlier and has equipment on board to neutralize the chemicals.

By midday, about a third of the 78 containers had been transferred from the Ark Futura to the Cape Ray, officials said. Italy’s environment minister, Gian Luca Galletti, proclaimed the mission a proud moment for Italy, tweeting that the country was contributing to international security in a ‘transparent and environmentally secure operation.’ The operation, however, has hardly been transparent for local residents, who complained that they were kept in the dark about what would happen and what chemicals were going to be transferred in their port.
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