United Nations chemical weapons experts are arriving in Syria today to launch their mission on destroying the Assad regime’s stockpile. The mandate was established in the U.N. Security Council resolution adopted last week. It sets a timeline of mid-2014 for the complete elimination of Syria’s chemical arsenal. In an address to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem continued the regime’s denial of using chemical weapons, claiming foreign governments are supplying them to Syrian rebels.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem: “There remains the challenge that is facing all of us whether those who are supplying terrorists with these types of weapons will abide by their legal commitments, since terrorists who used poisonous gases in my country have received chemical agents from regional and Western countries that are well known to all of us.”

The arrival of the U.N. disarmament experts comes as a team of inspectors have completed their second mission investigating alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria. A final report is expected later this month.