UN to inspect Syria gas attack site today

UN to inspect Syria gas attack site today (Reuters) / 26 August 2013 The United Nations said on Sunday its experts would start their probe of an alleged Syrian chemical weapons site on Monday after Syria agreed to allow the inspection even as a US official said it was already too late. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “has instructed the mission … currently in Damascus, to focus its attention on ascertaining the facts of the August 21 incident as its highest priority,” the UN said in a statement. “The mission is preparing to conduct on-site fact-finding activities, starting tomorrow, Monday, 26 August.” The UN announcement came shortly after Damascus gave the green light for the inspectors to carry out the probe into the alleged use of chemical weapons near the Syrian capital on Wednesday. “The Secretary-General would like to reiterate that all relevant parties equally share the responsibility of cooperating in urgently generating a safe environment for the mission to do its job efficiently and providing all necessary information.” Foreign powers have been searching for a response from the Syria regime since many hundreds of people were killed by poisonous gas on Wednesday in the suburbs of Damascus in what appears to have been the world’s worst chemical weapons attack in 25 years. There were increasing signs that the United States and its allies were considering taking action, a year after President Barack Obama said the use of chemical weapons was a “red line” that would prompt serious consequences. A senior US official said there was very little doubt that the Syrian government had used a chemical weapon against civilians on Wednesday and that Washington was still weighing how to respond. The official also said any decision to grant access to the UN inspectors would be “too late to be credible” because evidence had been corrupted by government shelling and other actions. Syria’s information minister said any US military action would “create a ball of fire that will inflame the Middle East”. He also said Damascus had evidence that chemical weapons were used by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Al Assad, not by his government. Western countries say they believe the rebels do not have access to poison gas. Opposition activists in Damascus said the army was using surface-to-surface missiles and artillery to strike eastern Damascus on Sunday, including neighbourhoods where the mass poisoning occurred. US President Barack Obama met his top military and national security advisers on Saturday to debate options. US naval forces have been repositioned in the Mediterranean to give Obama the option of an armed strike. “Based on the reported number of victims, reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, witness accounts, and other facts gathered by open sources, the US intelligence community, and international partners, there is very little doubt at this point that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in this incident,” the senior US official said. President Bashar Al Assad’s closest ally Iran, repeating Obama’s own previous rhetoric, said the United States should not cross a “red line” by attacking Syria. “America knows the limitation of the red line of the Syrian front and any crossing of Syria’s red line will have severe consequences for the White House,” said Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran’s military, Fars news agency reported. The Syrian opposition says between 500 and well over 1,000 civilians were killed this week by gas in munitions fired by pro-government forces. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said three hospitals near Damascus had reported 355 deaths in the space of three hours out of about 3,600 admissions with nerve gas-type symptoms. The head of the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front rebel group has pledged to target communities from Assad’s Alawi sect with rockets in revenge for Wednesday’s incident, according to an audio recording published on YouTube. “For every chemical rocket that had fallen on our people in Damascus, one of their villages will, by the will of God, pay for it,” Abu Mohammad Al Golani said in the recording. Taylor Scott International