Agence France Presse reported Wednesday that Berlin will send a frigate to help destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.
The German government will deploy up to 300 soldiers to the U.S. vessel MV Cape Ray to assist in the chemical arms destruction that is set to take place on the vessel using hydrolysis procedures.
"The sooner the chemical weapons are destroyed and no longer represent a danger for the people in Syria, the better," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a written statement Wednesday.
However, Germany's lower house of parliament still must approve the measure that calls for the deployment until December at the latest.
Germany previously accepted a UN request to destroy some of Syria's chemical weapons on its soil in the town of Munster at a state-owned facility called GEKA. Approximately 370 tons of material from Syria's stockpile will be destroyed at the GEKA facility in a 1,000 degree Celsius incinerator.
Syria is supposed to have its entire stockpile removed from the country and destroyed by June 30. However, only about half of the stockpile has been destroyed and Damascus has missed other critical sub-deadlines as well.
