U.S. Chides Syria on Missed Chemical Arms Deadlines WARSAW - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed the Obama administration's frustration with the Syrian government on Thursday for failing to meet deadlines for the destruction of its stockpile of chemical weapons. "The United States is concerned that the Syrian government is behind in delivering these chemical weapons and precursor materials on time, and with the schedule that was agreed to," Mr. Hagel said here after a meeting with the Polish defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak. Mr. Hagel said he had spoken to his Russian counterpart, Sergei K. Shoigu, by telephone on Wednesday, and asked him to use Moscow's influence with the government of President Bashar al-Assad to speed up compliance. Syrian officials have attributed the delays to security problems created by the civil war that have prevented them from moving the chemicals safely to the port of Latakia, where they are to be exported for eventual destruction at sea. Two small shipments representing only a tiny percentage of the 600 tons of the most dangerous chemicals have been exported so far, one shipment on Jan. 7 and the other on Monday. The deadline for exporting all 600 tons of the most dangerous chemicals passed on Dec. 31, and the deadline for exporting the total amount of all chemical materials, an estimated 1,200 tons, is Feb. 6. There is a widespread expectation that deadline will be missed as well. President Assad said in an interview with Agence France-Presse last week that he partly blamed the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the group based in The Hague that is helping oversee the destruction of the Syrian arsenal, for what Mr. Assad called its slow response to Syrian requests for equipment to safely transport the chemicals. The organization has declined to comment on Mr. Assad's criticism, but nonproliferation experts and diplomats have said privately that Syria has been supplied with everything it needs. Mr. Hagel did not speak to the precise causes of the delay but reiterated that Syria is responsible, under its agreement to renounce chemical weapons and join the treaty that bans them, to meet its obligations. "I do not know what the Syrian government's motives are, or if it was incompetence or why they are behind on delivering these materials," he said. What we do know is they are behind. What we do know is they need to fix this. That's what we are all working together to address. Mr. Hagel expressed guarded hope that the pace could accelerate. Under Syria's agreement, the entire arsenal must be destroyed by June 30. "We believe that this effort can continue to get back on track even though we are behind schedule," Mr. Hagel said.