JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

UN chemical weapons team to visit Syria on Sunday

UN chemical weapons team to visit Syria on Sunday

Friday, August 16, 2013, 21:00 GMT+7

A UN mission to investigate alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria's civil war tentatively plans to enter the country on Sunday, officials said on Friday.

The team, consisting of weapons experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, plans to look into claims of use of sarin gas and other toxic nerve agents.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday details of the trip had been worked out with the Syrian government and that the team's departure was imminent.

An official told Reuters on Friday the team would cross into Syria on Sunday, assuming security conditions permitted. A diplomat in the region confirmed the timetable.

One site to be visited by the UN experts is Khan al-Assal in Aleppo, where the Syrian government says rebels used chemical weapons in March.

Two other locations have not yet been identified and may be too dangerous for the team to visit, the official said.

The Syrian government and the opposition have accused each other of using chemical weapons during the two-year conflict, and both have denied it. The UN inquiry will try to establish only whether chemical weapons were used, not who used them.

The United States said in June it had concluded that Assad's forces used chemical weapons against rebel fighters.

Reuters

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Vietnamese youngster travels back in time with clay miniatures

Each work is a scene caught by Dung and kept in his memories through his journeys across Vietnam

Latest news