Syria to help UN chemical inspectors

Syria to help UN chemical inspectors
Thu Aug 15, 2013 21:01:15

Syria has expressed willingness to cooperate with a UN inspection team that is set to investigate use of chemical weapons in the country.

A Syrian Foreign Ministry official made the remarks on Thursday, a day after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the UN team would soon travel to Syria to probe the sites of alleged use of weapons.

“The negotiations between Syria and the UN ended positively and the team is expected in Syria in the coming days,” the Syrian official said.

“There were no difficulties in the negotiations and Syria said it is ready to give the team all the facilities it needs to carry out its mission,” the official added.

The UN team is to be led by arms expert Ake Sellstrom of Sweden and UN disarmament chief Angela Kane.

"The government of Syria has formally accepted the modalities essential for co-operation to ensure the proper, safe and efficient conduct of the mission," Ban’s spokesman Eduardo del Buey said.

"The departure of the team is now imminent," he added.

Under an agreement reached with the Syrian government, the UN team will visit three sites in the country over two weeks.

The first site on the UN list is the town of Khan al-Assal, located near the northern city of Aleppo. The Syrian government reported a chemical attack carried out by foreign-backed militants on March 19 that killed 26 people.

The other two sites are Ataybah near the capital, where a suspected attack took place in March and Homs, where chemical weapons were reportedly used in December last year.

The Syrian government has filed several reports to the UN on militants' use of chemical weapons against people and army soldiers.

A Russian-led inquiry recently revealed that militants carried out a chemical attack in Khan al-Assal in March.

The United States and its allies, such as the UK and France, have accused Damascus of using chemical weapons.

Syria has categorically denied the allegations, saying that Takfiris have used chemical weapons on several occasions, including an attack in the region of Khan al-Assal in Aleppo Province on March 19, where over two dozen people died.

SHI/SHI

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