A team of UN inspectors left Damascus on Saturday after finishing an investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons, a spokesman in Syria and witnesses said.
Twelve inspectors led by Ake Sellstrom were seen earlier loading their luggage leaving the Four Seasons hotel in central Damascus, journalists at the scene said.
“I can confirm that the UN team has left Damascus,” Khaled al Masri said. He did not reveal their destination but witnesses said the convoy headed toward the Lebanese border.
The UN team was tasked with determining whether chemical weapons had been used in Khan al-Asaal, in the northern province of Aleppo, and two other sites.
Their departure increased the expectations of a possible US military strike against the Government of President Bashar al-Assad.
US President Barack Obama had said on Friday that he was weighing “limited, narrow” action against Syria.
On August 24, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had sent disarmament chief Angela Kane to pressure Damascus to allow UN experts already in Syria to investigate a rebel claim that the military used chemical weapons in Eastern al-Ghotta region.
The rebels accused the regime of conducting a toxic gas attack on August 18 in an eastern suburb of Damascus. They claimed as many as 1,300 people had died, but the Government rejected the allegation as “absolutely baseless’’.