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Terrorists Preventing OPCW Team From Accessing Syria's Douma - Moscow

April 19, 2018 20:11·
Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl

Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl

Russian Federation told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday (April 17) there was no point establishing a new inquiry to determine blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria because the United States and its allies had already acted as judge and executioner. "The reconnaissance team returned to Damascus". Britain's ambassador to the OPCW Peter Wilson said it was now unclear when the inspectors would be able to reach it.

The experts from the OPCW chemical watchdog are awaiting the green light from the security team before beginning their on-site investigation in Douma of the alleged attack.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) sent a team to Syria at the weekend, but it has not yet been able to visit Douma and examine the site of the alleged attack.

The United States, which led missile strikes joined by Britain and France on Saturday, contends nothing will be found as proof will surely have been tampered with; Syria and Russian Federation counter that the quest is of no worth as the incident is a concoction of the West and never occurred.

The rebel group based in Douma announced its surrender hours after the suspected chemical attack, and the last rebels left a week later, hours after the Western retaliation strikes.

The United States has accused Russia of blocking the inspectors from reaching the site of the suspected attacks in Syria and say Russians or Syrians may have tampered with evidence on the ground.

Assad is now in his strongest position since the early months of a seven-year-old civil war that has killed more than 500,000 people and driven more than half of Syrians from their homes.

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The United Nations says further steps are needed to secure the suspected site of a chemical attack in Douma and a security team will need to make another visit before a fact-finding mission can go there. Another said they had been met by protesters demanding aid, and gunfire was heard.

The United Nations says its special envoy for Syria is undertaking intensive high-level consultations with senior officials in key countries on options for "a meaningful relaunch" of U.N. -facilitated political negotiations. The mission "will continue its work", the official said.

The Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta has been under siege for the last five years.

"At present, we do not know when the team can be deployed to Douma", Uzumcu added in a statement. Eastern Ghouta was captured by a government advance over the past two months.

The Syrian "White Helmets" rescue organization, which operates in rebel-held areas, has pinpointed for the OPCW team the places where victims of the suspected attack are buried, its head Raed Saleh said on Wednesday.

People gather in front of a hospital that locals referred as Point One just meters away from where the alleged chemical weapons attack occurred in the town of Douma, near Damascus, Syria, April 16, 2018.

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