The watchdog overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal has won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to rid the world of the devastating weapons.
In a surprise choice, the Nobel committee on Friday honoured the UN-backed Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for "its extensive efforts" in banishing the scourge of chemical arms.
"Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons," the Norwegian jury said in its statement.
The award came as OPCW arms experts and United Nations logistics and security personnel are on the ground in Syria and have started destroying weapons production facilities.
Despite the news, it was business as usual as a second OPCW team arrived in Damascus Friday, doubling the number of inspectors there to 60.
"We will celebrate the Nobel Peace Prize when our mission in Syria is successfully completed," Jerry Smith, the Head of Field Operations for the OPCW mission in Syria, said in a statement to AFP.
Under the terms of a UN Security Council resolution, Syria's chemical arsenal must be destroyed by mid-2014.
The OPCW was founded in 1997 to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention signed on January 13, 1993, a treaty with 189 members representing more than 98 per cent of the world's population.
The OPCW was not considered among the front-runners for the prize until the eve of the announcement.
Teenage Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege had been among the favourites for this year's prize.
Yousafzai, 16, who was shot by the Taliban for championing girls' right to an education, thanked her supporters and congratulated the OPCW in a statement.
"The OPCW is an important organisation working on the ground to help rid the world of chemical weapons. I would like to congratulate them on this much-deserved global recognition," she said.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who won the peace prize in 1990, said the Nobel would "provide the impetus to accelerate efforts to rid the world of these deadly weapons."
Since the OPCW came into existence 16 years ago, it has destroyed 57,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, the majority of them leftovers from the Cold War between the United States and Russia.
To date, the OPCW has 189 members, with Syria due to become a full-fledged member of the convention on Monday.
The Nobel jury directly criticised the United States and Russia for failing to destroy their chemical weapons by April 2012, as required by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The OPCW also provides assistance and protection to any member state subject to threats or attacks with chemical weapons.
Swedish chemical weapons expert Aake Sellstroem, head of UN weapons inspections in Syria, welcomed the attention given to chemical weapons with the Nobel Prize.
"Later on, once we have got rid of all chemical weapons, it's time to tackle nuclear weapons," he told Swedish news agency TT.
OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan said the prize would not distract the organisation from its work.
"We're in the process of trying to achieve something in Syria," he said.
"If we achieve the objectives of this mission, then there'll be something to celebrate."
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