The Nobel Peace Prize has turned the global spotlight back on the conflict in Syria. The prize committee in Oslo, Norway, awarded it Friday to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international chemical weapons watchdog helping to eliminate the Syrian army's stockpiles of poison gas. EXCLUSIVE: Inside lab that tested Syria chemical weapon evidence Its inspectors have just begun working in the active war zone, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it hopes the award offers "strong support" to them as they face arduous and life-threatening tasks. But the OPCW did not receive the prize primarily because of its work in Syria, committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said. "It is because of its long-standing efforts to eliminate chemical weapons and that we are now about to reach the goal and do away with a whole category of weapons of mass destruction. That would be a great event in history, if we can achieve that."
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Nobel committee hopes the award gives "strong support" to OPCW inspectors in Syria
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Panel says the prize wasn't for work in Syria, but for work to eliminate all chemical weapons
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OPCW inspectors have just begun to work in the active war zone
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All chemical weapons in Syria are to be destroyed by mid-2014
The award to the @placeholder was intended in part as a message to countries still harboring chemical weapons to get rid of them, Jagland said.