Watchdog will send team to investigate gas attack
An international chemical weapons watchdog organization will send a fact-finding team to Syria “soon” to investigate claims that government forces used chemical weapons against civilians in the rebel-held town of Douma, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Tuesday.
The OPCW said it has been gathering and analyzing information “from all available sources.” The group’s director general, Ahmet Üzümcü, determined the fact-finding team could help establish what happened in the Damascus suburb Saturday.
The rebel Syria Civil Defense Force said more than 40 people were killed and entire families were gassed to death in the attack. Syria denied the allegations and, along with ally Russia, invited the organization to send in an investigative team.
The attack drew global outrage. President Trump blasted “that animal” Bashar Assad, Syria’s president, and said blame also fell on Russia and Iran for supporting his regime.
Trump met with top military advisers to discuss a response to the Syrian attack, telling reporters that “nothing is off the table.” French President Emmanuel Macron said French, U.S. and British officials will decide in coming days on a joint response.
The OPCW has a mandate to investigate allegations of the use of toxic chemicals for hostile purposes in Syria.
“Today, the OPCW Technical Secretariat has requested the Syrian Arab Republic to make the necessary arrangements for such a deployment,” the group said in a statement.
The Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria issued a statement Tuesday saying Russian and Syrian troops inspected the area and found no traces of chemical agents. A check of hospitals found no patients suffering from illnesses associated with chemical agents, the center said.
“All these facts show … that no chemical weapons were used in the town of Douma, as it was claimed,” the statement said.