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WHO experts to be deployed to Syria’s Douma to assess situation

GENEVA, April 16. /TASS/. Experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) will be deployed to Syria’s Douma to assess the situation after the alleged chemical attack, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN office and other Geneva-based international organizations Gennady Gatilov said on Monday.

"As far as we know, WHO representatives are to be deployed to Douma today to take actions under their mandate to assess the objective situation from the point of view of medical and sanitary conditions at the site of alleged use of chemical weapons," he said.

Apart from that, in his words, experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have been deployed to Douma. "The Syrian authorities and Russian military police officers are offering all-round support to them," he said. "All conditions have been created for their normal work, first of all, from the point of view of security precautions."

Some non-governmental organizations, including White Helmets, claim that chemical weapons were used in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7. According to the statement uploaded to the organization’s website on April 8, chlorine bombs were dropped on the city to kill dozens and poison other local civilians who had to be brought to hospital.

The Russian foreign ministry dismissed that as fake news. The Russian defense ministry stated that White Helmets were an unreliable source, notorious for disseminating falsehoods. The Russian center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties on April 9 examined Douma to find no traces of chemical weapons. OPCW experts arrived in Damascus on April 14.