OPCW mulls sending mission to Syria to probe chlorine attack: report

PanARMENIAN.Net - The head of the global chemical weapons watchdog overseeing the destruction of Syria's toxic stockpile is considering launching a fact-finding mission on his own initiative to investigate reports of chlorine gas attacks there, Reuters reported, citing sources.

Syria became a member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) last year as part of a deal with Russia and the United States to destroy its chemical weapons program.

OPCW head Ahmet Uzumcu has the authority to launch an investigation into alleged use of chemical weapons in member states, including Syria, without the need to seek a formal request from a member state, sources told Reuters on Thursday.

"The OPCW director general is considering, on his own initiative, sending a fact-finding mission," one source said.

"A number of questions are still to be answered: Syrian consent, mandate of the mission, participants from other organizations, such as the World Health Organization," the source said, according to Reuters.

Several of Washington's key European allies, including Germany and France, support an investigation into the latest claims of chlorine gas use, the sources said.

"The indications of the use of chlorine on 11-13 April in Hama province are particularly concerning," a British official said on Thursday. "We think there needs to be an investigation of recent reports of the use of chemical weapons including chlorine, and we are working with others in the international community to establish how that should be done."

Syria has vowed to hand over or destroy its entire arsenal by the end of this week. It still has roughly 7.5 percent of the chemicals it declared to the OPCW and has not yet destroyed all of a dozen production and storage facilities.