Brussels, 01/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - A United Nations mission will travel to Syria “as soon as possible” to carry out simultaneous investigations on three sites where the use of chemical weapons has been alleged, said UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky on 31 July. The investigation will initially focus on three sites - Khan al-Assal, near Aleppo, where chemical weapons were reportedly used on 19 March; Ataybah, near Damascus, the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in March; and Homs, where there was a suspected chemical attack on 23 December, said Nesirky.
According to a diplomat quoted by AFP, the investigators, who are currently meeting in Europe, could travel to Syria as early as next week.
The EU hopes that the mission will be deployed “soon”. Taking note of the “positive effects” of the two special envoys from the UN to Damascus, who last week obtained the regime's agreement to carry out investigations (see EUROPE 10895), the EU hopes that the mission on the agreed sites will be deployed “soon”, said Michael Mann, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. He reiterated that the EU has “constantly called on the regime to cooperate fully with the investigation and allow it full and unfettered access” throughout the country. The EU has for several months been asking for the United Nations mission to be able to be on the ground to determine if chemical weapons have indeed been used, and it has stressed on many occasions that those responsible for the use of chemical weapons will have to be held to account.
Syria, France, the United Kingdom (see EUROPE 10860) and the United States have reported 13 chemical weapon attacks to the United Nations since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, Nesirky revealed. The UN is aware that other incidents have been reported apart from those on the three sites to be visited, said the UN spokesperson, adding that the mission will continue to look for clarification from the relevant member states.
The Syrian regime has until now blocked the UN's requests to carry out investigations. (CG/transl.fl)