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UN Inspectors Visit Alleged Chemical Attack Site

August 26, 2013

by RFE/RL

UN weapons inspectors have visited the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in a western suburb of Damascus.

The UN team entered the town of Moadamyeh and spoke with victims of the chemical attack, which allegedly took place on August 21.

The United Nations said one of the vehicles of the inspection team was "deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers."

No injuries were reported.

Syrian state TV said "terrorists" fired at the UN inspectors.

Humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders says that more than 300 people were killed in an attack on August 21 that included the use of toxic gas.

The United States and some other Western nations say there is little doubt President Bashar al-Assad's troops used chemical weapons in that incident.

Assad has dismissed the allegations as "politically motivated" and "nonsense."

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the United States is considering all options in the wake of the alleged chemical attack.

Hagel said while on a visit to Indonesia, "If there is any action taken, it will be in concert with the international community and within the framework of legal justification."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it would be possible to respond without the unanimous backing of the UN Security Council.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron is reportedly cutting short his holiday to chair a meeting of the National Security Council on August 28 to discuss a response.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any military action without UN approval would be a "grave violation of international law."

Lavrov, at a news conference in Moscow, said Western nations calling for military action against Syria have no proof that the Syrian government is behind the alleged chemical attack.

He also said Russia will "not go to war with anyone" in case of Western military intervention in Syria.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/syria-chemical-attack-/25085798.html

Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.