REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DAMASCUS - The US had offered to help destroy some of the most lethal parts of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile at an offshore facility, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons said Saturday.

The international organization's director-general, Ahmet Uzumcu, said in The Hague, Netherlands that the US government would contribute "a destruction technology, full operational support and financing to neutralize" the weapons, most likely on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The weapons are to be removed from Syria by Dec. 31.

Separately, Sigrid Kaag as the one who was appointed as go-between for the United Nations and the OPCW on destroying Syria's chemical weapons stockpile laid out some logistical details. Importantly, the weapons will first be packaged and transported from multiple sites within Syria to the country's largest port, Latakia. Then they will be loaded onto ships owned by other OPCW members before a second hand-off to US vessels.

The weapons and chemicals "will not be (destroyed) in Syrian territorial waters," Sigrid Kaag said at a news conference in Damascus. Kraag said the Dec. 31 deadline could be met, but unforeseen obstacles — such as a closure of the Homs-Damascus road — could delay the mission's job.

The OPCW also wants nearly 800 tons of dual-use chemicals, many of which are common industrial chemicals, to be removed by Feb. 5. Later the chemical will be destroyed by private companies as part of the organization's ambitious plan to completely eradicate Syria's chemical weapons program by mid-2014.

Uzumcu said in a statement 35 private companies have applied so far to participate and are at an early stage of being vetted. He also called on governments of the 190 countries that belong to the OPCW to contribute funds to the effort, or by contracting directly with companies to help destroy chemicals.

The OPCW was given the responsibility of overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal under an agreement reached between the US and Syrian ally Russia on Sept. 14. The US then shelved plans for a military strike on Syria's government as punishment for a chemical weapons attack Aug. 21 that killed hundreds of people, including many children, in rebel-held Damascus suburbs. Syria's government acknowledged it possessed chemical weapons and committed to giving them up.

Since then OPCW is scrambling to meet ambitious deadlines for disarming and destroying Syria's estimated 1,300-ton arsenal, which includes mustard gas. 

In Saturday's statement, the OPCW said a suitable US naval vessel "is undergoing modifications to support the operations and to accommodate verification activities by the OPCW."

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