Following a great deal of fuss and groundless accusations by some Western countries regarding chemical weapons use in Syria, the Russian Ambassador to the U.N., Vitaly Churkin, declared Wednesday that samples taken from the Syrian town where chemical weapons were allegedly used indicate that it was rebels and not the Syrian army who was behind the attack.
Evidence collected and studied by Russian scientists indicates that a projectile carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin was most likely fired at Khan al-Asal by the rebels, Churkin pointed out. He added that it was determined that on 19 March the rebels fired an unguided missile at the town of Khan al-Asal, which has been under government control.
The results of the analysis "clearly show that the shell used in Khan al-Asal was not factory made and that it contained sarin,” he said.
Earlier, the Syrian Ambassador to the U.N., Bashar Jaafari, announced that Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, the U.N. official investigating the claims, and U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Angela Kane had been invited for "constructive negotiations with Syrian officials in order to reach an agreement, a mutual agreement on the terms of reference, mechanism and time frame of the mission.”
The stockpile of chemicals belonging to armed terrorist groups, he said, includes 79 barrels of polyethylene glycol, 67 barrels of monoethylene glycol, 25 barrels of monoethanol amine, and 68 barrels of the diethanolamine, and 42 barrels of triethanolamine.
An independent U.N. commission of inquiry confirmed in May 2013 that the opposition, rather than the government, has chemical weapons in their possession and are using sarin nerve agents against civilian populations.
"The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law," said commission member Carla Del Ponte.
Earlier, Turkey’s state media agency Zaman, disclosed that the Turkish General Directorate of Security seized two kilograms of sarin gas in the city of Adana in the possession of the Nusra Front terrorist group, believed to have been heading for Syria.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
......
