First Chemical Materials Removed from Syria by Ship

The first ship carrying Syrian chemical materials left port of Latakia Tuesday under a deal to rid the country of its chemical arsenal, said the joint mission overseeing the disarmament.

Meanwhile, the head of al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front, called for an end to four days of clashes between rebels and the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that has killed at least 274 people.

"A first quantity of priority chemical materials was moved from two sites to the port of Latakia for verification and was then loaded onto a Danish commercial vessel today," the United Nations-Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (U.N.-OPCW) mission said.

The ship then sailed for international waters, eight days after a December 31 deadline for the operation to begin was missed.

Tuesday's shipment "initiates the process of transfer of chemical materials from the Syrian Arab Republic to locations outside its territory for destruction," the U.N.-OPCW statement said.

The ship, under escort by Chinese, Danish, Norwegian and Russian naval vessels, will stand offshore until more chemicals arrive at the port and then return to collect them.

Syria agreed last year to a U.S.-Russian deal to hand over its chemical weapons.

That came after U.S. President Barack Obama threatened air strikes in response to an August chemical weapons attack outside Damascus that killed hundreds of people, which Washington blamed on the Syrian regime.

Under the plan, the chemicals will be transported to an Italian port and offloaded onto a U.S. vessel, where they will be destroyed.

The mission has a June deadline to complete the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, which include the deadly nerve agent sarin and mustard gas.

At OPCW headquarters in the Hague, director general Ahmet Uzumcu said the first removal was an "important step."

"I encourage the Syrian government to maintain the momentum to remove the remaining priority chemicals, in a safe and timely manner, so that they can be destroyed...as quickly as possible," he said in a statement.

Nusra chief urges end to clashes

Meanwhile, clashes continued between fighters from the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and a coalition of moderate and Islamist rebels.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy fighting in Raqa, the only provincial capital that has fallen from regime hands and a one-time ISIL stronghold.

The Observatory said 274 had been killed in the clashes since Friday, including 129 rebel fighters, 46 civilians and 99 ISIL members.

More than 130,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since it erupted in March 2011.

The coalition attacked ISIL, angered over its alleged abuses in rebel-held areas, including the kidnapping, torture and killing of civilians and rival rebels.

Nusra Front chief Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, in an audio message posted on Twitter, warned that the fighting could give "new life" to President Bashar Assad's regime.

"The regime will gain new life when it was close to collapse and the West and the rafidain (Shiites and Alawites) will find a great space," he added.

It "risks costing us dearly on the ground if it continues."

Jolani said ISIL's "flawed policy" had played "a key role in fueling the conflict," and proposed an initiative to end the fighting.

This would include a ceasefire, a prisoner exchange and the establishment of an Islamic committee to mediate disputes.

Jolani urged fighters "to give priority to the fight against the regime."

But Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi was bullish about Assad's staying power, saying he thought he would stand for reelection in June.

"There is a popular desire for... Assad to stand in the presidential elections, and I can tell you that he will be reelected" if he does, he told reporters in Damascus.

The Nusra Front, al-Qaida's official affiliate in Syria, was established in mid-2011 when ISIL's Iraqi precursor dispatched fighters to the country.

Last April, ISIL chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sought to merge his Iraqi group and Al-Nusra, but Jolani rejected that and pledged allegiance directly to al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.