Syrian authorities began destroying remnants of the chemical weapons program created under former President Bashar al-Assad, including raw materials and munitions. ^[1] UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu told the UN Security Council that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) verified the destruction of chemical munitions in Syria for the first time since 2014. ^[2] Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said at a UN Security Council meeting on September 3 that Russia calls on the OPCW Technical Secretariat to act professionally on the issue of the Syrian chemical dossier. ^[3] Syrian authorities have begun destroying chemical weapons materials left behind by the Assad regime, marking the first known destruction process of its kind in the country in roughly a decade. ^[4] The United Kingdom representative at the UN Security Council stated that Syria has made important progress in dismantling the Assad regime's chemical weapons programme. ^[5] Russian Permanent Representative to the OPCW Vladimir Tarabrin stated during a visit to China that some Western countries have turned the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons into a platform for making political accusations against undesirable countries including Russia, Iran, and China. ^[6] The OPCW deployed a team to verify the destruction of 'category-three' chemical weapons, defined as unfilled munitions and other equipment used to release chemical weapons. ^[7] The OPCW team verified the irreversible destruction of 42 aerial bombs as part of the mission. ^[8] Vasily Nebenzya said that until the imbalances regarding the OPCW's methodology are removed, it will be impossible to turn the page on this chapter of Syrian history. ^[9] Vasily Nebenzya stated that the OPCW's inability to do its job properly and its Technical Secretariat's principled unwillingness to correct its methodology remain the key problem hampering the implementation of Security Council resolution 2118. ^[10] Syria's post-Assad leadership reportedly discovered remnants of Bashar al-Assad's clandestine chemical weapons program earlier this year, including raw materials and munitions tied to weapons long accused of being used against civilians during Syria's civil war. ^[11] Syria's U.N. envoy, Ibrahim Olabi, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that the new authorities in Damascus have started dismantling materials identified by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. ^[12]