Assad (AP Photo)
A United Nations (UN) team tasked with investigating the Syrian regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons near the capital Damascus last week left their hotel yesterday, as world leaders suggested that an international response to the attack that is reported to have left hundreds dead was likely.
Meanwhile, President Bashar Assad denied in remarks published yesterday his troops used chemical weapons during the fighting in the rebel-held suburb.
An Associated Press photographer saw UN team members wearing body armor leaving their hotel in Damascus in seven SUVs. It was not clear if the team was headed to the suburb where the alleged attack occurred.
The United States has said that there is little doubt that Assad’s regime was responsible for the attack on Aug. 21 in the capital’s eastern suburbs. The group Doctors Without Borders said 355 people were killed in an artillery barrage by regime forces Wednesday that included the use of toxic gas.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the eastern suburbs have witnessed a wide army offensive over the last week, but have been relatively quiet since Sunday night.
Mohammed Abdullah, an activist in the eastern suburb of Saqba, said the UN was expected to visit the rebel-held area yesterday and they will be under the protection of the Islam Brigade, which has thousands of fighters in the area.
The photographer said UN disarmament chief Angela Kane saw them as they left but did not go with them yesterday morning.
Nearly an hour before the team left, several mortar shells fell about 700 meters from their hotel, wounding three people. One of the shells struck a mosque damaging its minaret, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.
Syrian activists and opposition leaders have said that between 322 and 1,300 people were killed in the alleged chemical attack on Wednesday.
Syria said Sunday that a UN team could investigate the site but a senior White House official dismissed the deal as “too late to be credible.”
Speaking to reporters in the South Korean capital of Seoul, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon said the mission was expected to “begin conducting on-site fact-finding activities” Monday. He added that “every hour counts. We cannot afford any more delays.”
Assad told Russia’s Izvestia daily that the accusations that his troops used chemicals were responsible were “politically motivated.”
“This is nonsense,” Assad was quoted as saying in an interview published yesterday. “First they level the accusations, and only then they start collecting evidence.”
Assad said that attacking such an area with chemical weapons would not make sense for the government as there was no clear front line between regime and rebel forces.
With France, Britain, Israel and some US congressmen urging swift military action against Assad’s regime if the use of chemical agents is confirmed, the UN team’s conclusions could have a dramatic impact on the trajectory of the country’s civil war.
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