Norway rejects U.S. request to destroy Syria's chemical weapons over technical, legal reasons

The Norwegian government has rejected a United States request to receive Syria's chemical weapons for destruction, citing technical and legal reasons.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende said taking in consideration the time constraint and the country's inability of fully burning the organic waste without a hydrolysis facility, America has concluded that the Nordic nation should not be responsible for destroying Syria's chemical weapons, CSMonitor reports.

According to the UN Security Council resolution agreed to in September, the toxic chemicals are to be transported out of Syria by January 2014 and destroyed by June.

Brende said Norway will, however, continue to work with the U.S. to provide economic assistance and humanitarian support to victims of the Syrian conflict.