UN SAYS SYRIAN OPPOSITION MAY HAVE USED SARIN

       London, 20 Shawwal 1434/ 27 August 2013 (MINA) –  A United Nations inquiry into human rights abuses in Syria has found evidence that opposition forces may have used chemical weapons, its lead investigator has revealed.

       Carla Del Ponte, a member of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said that testimony gathered from casualties and medical staff indicated that the nerve agent sarin was used by opposition fighters.

       “Our investigators have been in neighbouring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated,” Ms Del Ponte said in an interview broadcast on Swiss-Italian television.

       “This was used on the part of the opposition, not by the government authorities,” she added.

        Ms Del Ponte said the inquiry has yet to see any direct evidence suggesting that government forces have used chemical weapons, but said further investigation was required before this possibility could be ruled out.

        The UN commission, which is investigating human rights abuses in Syria since the start of the civil war, later released a statement distancing itself from the allegations. It said that investigators had “not reached conclusive findings as to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any parties to the conflict”.

        The White House said it was “highly skeptical” of suggestions that Syrian opposition used chemical weapons. Harakah Daily reported monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

       “We find it highly likely that chemical weapons, if they were in fact used in Syria – and there is certainly evidence that they were – that the Assad regime was responsible,” spokesman Jay Carney said.

       The allegations come nearly two weeks after the United States said it had “varying degrees of confidence” that sarin gas had been used by Syria’s government on its people.

       President Barack Obama declared that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, would cross a “red line” and change US calculations on whether or not it should intervene in the conflict.

       Calls for the US to launch military action against the Syrian regime have grown stronger since claims that it used chemical weapons first emerged. Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are the most prominent among those calling for a no-fly zone in some parts of the country, similar to the one which was introduced in Libya.

       Each side in Syria’s two-year-old conflict has accused the other of using chemical weapons – an action that which would constitute a war crime under international law. Two of the alleged attacks took place in Aleppo in March and Homs in December.

       Meanwhile, the Syrian government has agreed to allow UN inspectors to investigate allegations of a suspected chemical weapon attack near Damascus. The team is to begin work on Monday. (T/P04/P03)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)