Chemical experts stalled in Syria
Trump team pushes back on sanctions plan and denies US troops in for long haul
Chemical weapons inspectors in Syria said that they are being denied access to the site of an alleged chemical attack that was used to justify US-led airstrikes over the weekend, amid growing suspicions that evidence of the incident may have been tampered with.
Pro-government media broadcast interviews with doctors from the area saying that no such attack had occurred and that the victims they treated were suffering from asthma.
A team with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrived in Damascus at the weekend at the invitation of the Government to investigate the alleged chemical attack, which prompted the strikes against three Syrian chemical weapons facilities on Saturday.
Two days later, the fact-finding team said it has still not been granted permission by Syrian authorities to visit Douma, the town in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus where residents and monitoring groups said the attack took place.
The US ambassador to the OPCW, Kenneth Ward, said he suspects Russians may have tampered with the evidence. Russia, a longtime ally of the Syrian Government, intervened militarily in 2015 to help turn the tide of the civil war.
“It is our understanding the Russians may have visited the attack site. We are concerned they may have tampered with it with the intent of thwarting the efforts of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission to conduct an effective investigation,” Ward said at a meeting of the OPCW in The Hague.
“Unfettered access essential. Russia & Syria must cooperate,” tweeted the account of the British team with the OPCW, expressing concern that access to Douma was being denied.
According to OPCW Director General Ahmet Uzumcu, Syrian and Russian officials have cited “security issues” for the refusal to allow the team to visit the town. Instead, he said, the team members have been told they can interview 22 witnesses who will be brought to Damascus by the authorities.
The suspicions of tampering heightened concerns that the truth about the suspected April 7 attack may never be known. The rebels who had controlled Douma for six years surrendered the day after the alleged incident, which left dozens of apparently uninjured men, women and children dead in an apartment building, with foam coming out of their mouths, according to video footage.
Russian and Syrian troops have since deployed in the area.
Yesterday Syrian anti-aircraft defences shot down missiles fired at the Syrian air base of Shayrat in Homs province and another base northeast of Damascus. A Pentagon spokesman
said there was no US military activity in that area. Asked about the attack, an Israeli military spokesman said: “We don’t comment on such reports.”
In a day of push-back on statements made about Syria the day before, the White House said that US President Donald Trump still intends an early exit for US troops in Syria, as French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to walk back his suggestion that he had convinced Trump to keep them there for the “long term.” Macron’s remarks on Monday had hinted at a major policy shift for Trump, who had said he wanted a US departure from Syria “very soon.”
But “our policy hasn’t changed,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, and Trump remains focused on defeating Isis and on getting countries in the Gulf to pick up the financial and military burden of Syria stabilisation.
Trump also put the brakes on a preliminary plan to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia for its support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had told CBS News on Monday that sanctions on Russian companies behind the equipment related to Assad’s alleged chemical weapons attack would be announced by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. But Trump told his national security advisers he was upset the sanctions were being officially rolled out because he was not yet comfortable in executing them, ac- cording to several people familiar with the plan. Administration officials said it was unlikely Trump would approve any additional sanctions without another triggering event by Russia.
The Trump team decided to publicly characterise Haley’s announcement as a misstatement. Privately, another White House official said Haley got ahead of herself and made “an error that needs to be mopped up.” But other Administration officials expressed scepticism that Haley had merely misspoken. They said Haley is one of the most disciplined and cautious members of the Cabinet. She regularly checks in with Trump to go over her planned statements before television interviews.