Watchdog body urges Syria to speed up chemical handover

The plastic tent surrounding the Field Deployable Hydrolysis System used to destroy and neutralize chemical weapons sits aboard the MV Cape Ray before its deployment from the NASSC0-Earl Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, January 2, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The world's chemical weapons watchdog, which is overseeing the destruction of Syria's toxic arsenal, called on the government of President Bashar al-Assad to pick up momentum in handing over the remaining chemicals.

Syria missed a deadline to transport the most toxic substances out of the country by December 31, loading a first batch of chemicals onto a Danish cargo vessel on Tuesday, a week late.