The United Nations has begun moving Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile out of the country as part of the disarmament program agreed to last year. U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq announced the latest step.

Farhan Haq: “An initial quantity of priority chemical materials was moved from two sites to the port of Latakia in Syria for verification and was then loaded onto a Danish cargo ship today. The vessel has been accompanied by naval escorts provided by Denmark and Norway, as well as the Syrian Arab Republic. This movement initiates the process of transfer of chemical materials from Syria to locations outside its territory for destruction.”

The weapons will eventually be transferred to a U.S. ship and destroyed in international waters.