Chemical probe begins in Syria after air strikes
DAMASCUS: International inspectors began work on Sunday at the site near Damascus of an alleged chemical attack that prompted an unprecedented wave of Western strikes against Syria’s government.
US, French and British missiles destroyed sites suspected of hosting chemical weapons development and storage facilities, but the buildings were mostly empty and the Western trio swiftly reverted to its diplomatic efforts.
Washington trumpeted the “perfectly executed” strike, the biggest international attack on President Bashar al Assad’s government during Syria’s sevenyear war, but both Damascus and Syria’s opposition rubbished its impact. Assad on Sunday denounced a “campaign of deceit and lies at the (United Nations) Security Council” after a push by Moscow to condemn the strikes fell far short.
Syria and its Russian ally are “waging a single battle — not only against terrorism, but also to protect international law based on the respect of the sovereignty of states and the will of their people”, Assad’s office quoted him saying during a meeting with Russian politicians.
A team of chemical experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, arrived in Damascus hours after the strikes.
They have been tasked with investigating the site of an April 7 attack in the town of Douma, just east of the capital Damascus, which Western powers said involved chlorine and sarin and killed dozens.