UN chemical weapon inspectors to go to Syria soon

PanARMENIAN.Net - UN inspectors will go to Syria soon to investigate three sites where chemical weapons attacks have been reported, the United Nations said Wednesday, July 31, according to AFP.

"The mission will travel to Syria as soon as possible to contemporaneously investigate three of the reported incidents," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

The announcement followed an accord reached with the Syrian government when two UN envoys went to Damascus last week.

The inspectors, who are led by Swedish expert Ake Sellstrom, are being assembled in Europe and could go to Syria as soon as next week, diplomats said.

The announcement that inspectors will get into Syria is seen as a major breakthrough in one of the most frightening aspects of the 28-month-old war.

The United Nations says reports on 13 different chemical attacks have been made. Syria, Britain, France, Russia and the United States have all handed over evidence to Sellstrom's team.

But experts say most of the reported attacks are now months old and there is a risk that evidence has been cleared up or has degraded.

Khan al-Assal, which is one of three sites on the initial investigation list, is now the scene of major fighting between government and rebel forces.

Syria has hundreds of tons of various chemical arms, according to experts, and has never joined international conventions banning their use.

The major powers all agree that chemical weapons have been used in the conflict. Russia sides with its government ally in blaming the opposition. Western nations say all the evidence points to Assad's forces using the arms in "limited" quantities.

While the initial inquiry will focus on three sites, Nesirky said UN leader Ban Ki-moon "remains mindful of other reported incidents and the mission will also continue to seek clarification from the member states concerned."

The spokesman said the first sites on the UN list includes Khan al-Assal, near Aleppo, where the government reported a chemical weapons attack on March 19. It said at least 26 people, including 16 soldiers, were killed.