UN inspectors set off today to a site in the Syrian capital of alleged chemical weapons attacks, a day after suspending their mission over safety concerns, an AFP photographer said.
The team of arms experts boarded a convoy of six vehicles in Damascus, the photographer said. It was unclear which site they were intending to visit.
The inspectors braved sniper fire when they began their mission on Monday but still managed to visit two field hospitals in Moadamiyet al-Sham, southwest of Damascus, and collect the evidence of last week’s suspected chemical attacks.
But they were unable to carry out a planned visit to a second site in Eastern Ghouta, on the Syrian capital’s northeastern outskirts, yesterday because their safety could not be guaranteed.
Opponents of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime say more than 1,300 people died when his forces unleashed toxic gases on the two neighbourhoods on August 21. The regime strongly denies the claim.