Syria chemical arms team to disband Sept. 30, probe to go on - UN

Peter Theo Curtis, an American writer released this week after nearly two years of captivity in Syria, talks to reporters near his mother's home in Cambridge, Massachusetts August 27, 2014. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A joint mission of the United Nations and the global anti-chemical arms watchdog that has overseen the destruction of Syria's toxic gas stocks will shut down on Sept. 30 though a successor unit will continue investigating, the U.N. chief said.

Last week the Pentagon said a specially equipped U.S. ship had finished neutralizing all 600 metric tons of the most dangerous of Syria's chemical weapons components surrendered to the international community this year to avert threatened air strikes.