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Middle East and North Africa

UN chemical weapon experts resume work in Syria

A group of inspectors has left the hotel in Damascus for the area of alleged use of chemical weapons

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

CAIRO, August 28 (Itar-Tass) - UN chemical weapon experts resumed their work in Syria on Wednesday, local mass media outlets reported.

Eyewitnesses say a group of inspectors has left the hotel in Damascus for the area of alleged use of chemical weapons in one of the suburbs of the Syrian capital.

The UN inspectors suspended work after their motorcade came under fire on Monday, expecting improved security measures.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged all the parties to help the inspectors and ensure their access to the district in suburban Damascus where chemical weapons had allegedly been used.

As earlier stated by deputy official representative of the UN Secretary General Farhan Haq, the inspectors will visit several places in Damascus suburb Ghouta, where on the previous week were allegedly used chemical weapons. However, Mr. Haq refused to specify where exactly were going the experts.

On Monday the UN experts visited a hospital near Ghouta where people injured in the alleged gas attack were placed.

The UN representative tried to calm Western states that doubt about the preservation of evidences capable to confirm the fact of chemical weapons use. He said that traces of nerve gas sarin can be found within several months after it had been used, and at this stage witness statements also represent a specific value.

Syria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Walid Muhallem said on Tuesday that clashes between oppositional groups controlling this district impede the following inspection.

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