UN inspectors arrive in Damascus on chemical arms probe

August 18, 2013 06:35 pm | Updated November 22, 2021 06:54 pm IST - DAMASCUS

This March 19, 2013 photo provided by Syria’s official news agency SANA, a Syrian victim who suffered an alleged chemical attack at Khan al-Assal village, receives treatment by doctors at a hospital in Aleppo.

This March 19, 2013 photo provided by Syria’s official news agency SANA, a Syrian victim who suffered an alleged chemical attack at Khan al-Assal village, receives treatment by doctors at a hospital in Aleppo.

U.N. inspectors arrived on Sunday in the Syrian capital on a mission to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons, as Syria’s government vowed to fully cooperate with them.

Syrian plainclothes security men whisked away the 20-member team, led by Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom, from a crush of waiting reporters and cameramen as they arrived at their five-star hotel in the heart of Damascus.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the Associated Press before their arrival that Syria will “fully cooperate” with the team.

“I assure you, on behalf of the Syrian Arab Republic, that we will fully cooperate with this team and provide it will all information we have and all facilities to reach a rational conclusion,” he said.

“Our basic target is for this team to find facts on ground, especially about what happened in (the Aleppo suburb of) Khan al-Assal, because we, as a government, do not know about any other cases other than the case where chemical weapons were used by terrorists there,” he said. Syria’s government refers to rebels fighting its rule as terrorists.

The U.N. team’s mission will be limited to investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons in three areas, in particular the March 19, 2013 attack in Khan al-Assal that President Bashar Assad blames on rebels.

The other two sites have been kept secret.

Mr. Assad’s government and the rebels each say the other side has used chemical weapons during the 28-month conflict.

Mr. Assad had refused to allow a broader U.N. investigation into allegations of chemical use, including charges that have been levelled by the United States, Britain and France.

Mr. Mekdad insisted that Syria “will never use chemical weapons against its people.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.