World powers agreed that they wanted to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons program. But actually getting rid of the banned material could be far trickier and might require giving military-grade assistance to the Syrian government.
Seven weeks into a breakneck effort to disarm Syria of its toxic arsenal, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is overseeing the operation, says the country's ability to produce the banned munitions has been eliminated.
But the next goal — getting the stockpile out of the country by Dec. 31 and then destroying it — is proving to be a far more difficult diplomatic and logistic feat.