Watchdog: Syria submits 'initial disclosure' of chemical weapons program

Syria moving chemical weapons

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is the world's chemical arms watchdog
• The normal 60-day process for declaring arms is being cut to seven days for Syria
• This fast-tracking of the disclosure of chemical weapons is "irregular," an official says
• Secretary of States John Kerry says: "Time is short"

(CNN) -- Syria has begun detailing its chemical weapons arsenal, releasing an "initial declaration" of its stockpile, a spokesman for the U.N.-backed Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Friday.

More details about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons program are expected within the next day or two, spokesman Michael Luhan said.

The international chemical weapons watchdog has been charged with overseeing the removal of al-Assad's chemical weapons arsenal from Syria, part of a U.S.-Russian plan aimed at averting American military airstrikes.

The information submitted by Syria is now being reviewed by the OPCW, he said.

The group's executive council -- which was to meet Sunday at The Hague, Netherlands -- has postponed the meeting until sometime next week, Luhan said, because "more time is needed" to review Syria's chemical weapons disclosure and agree to put in place a framework for the U.S.-Russia plan.