Syria wins cautious praise as chemical disarmament starts

U.N. vehicle transporting a team of experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) return to their hotel in Damascus October 7, 2013. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria won foreign praise on Monday for starting to destroy its chemical arsenal, although an opposition activist said the world was merely giving President Bashar al-Assad time to kill more people with conventional weapons.

An official from the international mission overseeing the stockpile's elimination said Damascus had made an excellent start on Sunday, and the United States acknowledged its rapid compliance with a U.N. resolution on destroying chemical weapons as extremely significant.