Chemical weapons inspectors on Wednesday again delayed visiting the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria’s Douma after a UN security team reported gunfire at the location a day earlier, sources briefed on the team’s deployment have been reported as saying
Details of the shooting were unclear, but weapons inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have pushed back their visit which was supposed to happen on Wednesday, the sources told the Reuters news agency.
The inspectors landed in Syria on Saturday to investigate the alleged chemical attack on civilians in Douma, east of Damascus, on 7 April, but have yet gained access to the site.
France has said it was very likely that evidence of the gas attack was disappearing before the inspectors could reach the town. The UK this week said Russia was delaying investigations.
Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari on Tuesday told a meeting of the UN Security Council that the team of experts would begin work on Wednesday once they receive the all-clear from their security detail.
“If this United Nations security team decides that the situation is sound in Douma then the fact-finding mission will begin its work in Douma tomorrow,” Jaafari told the council in New York.