DAMASCUS, Syria
(AP) -- After months of drawn-out negotiations, United Nations
experts arrived in Damascus on Sunday to begin their investigation into
the purported use of chemical weapons in Syria's civil war.
The
rebels, along with the U.S. and other Western powers, have accused
President Bashar Assad's regime of carrying out the alleged chemical
attacks, while the Syrian government and Russia have blamed the
opposition. Nearly six months after the weapons of mass destruction were
first allegedly employed on the battlefield, definitive proof remains
elusive.
The U.N. team that arrived in
Damascus on Sunday is tasked with determining whether chemical weapons
have been used in the conflict, and if so which ones. But the mission's
mandate does not extend to establishing who was responsible for an
attack, which has led some observers to question the overall value of
the probe.
The 20-member U.N. delegation, led
by Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom, checked into a
five-star hotel upon arrival in central Damascus. Plainclothes police
officers immediately whisked them away from a crush of reporters and
cameraman waiting in the lobby.
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the team will begin its work on Monday.
The
investigators are expected to visit three sites where chemical weapons
attacks allegedly occurred: the village of Khan al-Assal just west of
the embattled northern city of Aleppo and two other locations that have
not been disclosed.
Syria is said to have one
of the world's largest stockpiles of chemical weapons, including mustard
gas and the nerve agent sarin. There are concerns that the Assad regime
might use them on a large scale, transfer some of them to the Lebanese
militant Hezbollah group or that the chemical agents could fall into the
hands of al-Qaida-affiliated militants and other extremists among the
rebels.
Ahead of the experts' arrival, Syrian
Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told The Associated Press that the
government will offer the U.N. inspectors its full assistance.
"I
assure you, on behalf of the Syrian Arab Republic, that we will fully
cooperate with this team and provide it will all information we have and
all facilities to reach a rational conclusion," he said.
"Our
basic target is for this team to find facts on ground, especially about
what happened in Khan al-Assal, because we, as a government, do not
know about any other cases other than the case where chemical weapons
were used by terrorists there," he added. Syria's government refers to
rebels fighting its rule as terrorists.
A
spokesman for the Western-backed Syrian opposition's military wing, Loay
al-Mikdad, also welcomed the U.N. mission, but was skeptical about how
fruitful the investigation will be.
"We hope
that this delegation will be able to reach all areas where
unconventional weapons have been used," al-Mikdad said. "However, we're
absolutely sure that this regime that has done everything from changing
signs with the names of areas to fabricating evidence with past
delegations will do the same with this one. Therefore, we doubt they
will be able to uncover truthful results."
Al-Mikdad
said the rebels, if asked, will facilitate a visit by inspectors to
opposition-held areas, and that no restrictions would be placed on their
movements.
The Syrian government initially
asked the U.N. to investigate an alleged chemical weapons attack on
March 19 in Khan al Assal, which was captured by the rebels last month.
The government and rebels blame each other for the purported attack
which killed at least 30 people.
Britain,
France and the U.S. followed with allegations of chemical weapons use in
Homs, Damascus and elsewhere. U.N. Mideast envoy Robert Serry told the
Security Council last month that the U.N. has received 13 reports of
alleged chemical weapons use in Syria.
Speaking to the AP, Mekdad insisted that Syria "will never use chemical weapons against its people."
"We
said that these weapons were used in Syria, and Syria was the first to
inform the United Nations that armed groups used these weapons in Khan
al-Assal," the Syrian deputy foreign minister said. "We had wished that
the United Nations had conducted the investigation immediately at the
time so the team would not find difficulties gathering evidence."
In
June, the U.S. said it had conclusive evidence that Assad's regime used
chemical weapons against opposition forces. That crossed what President
Barack Obama called a "red line," prompting a U.S. decision to begin
arming rebel groups, although that has not happened yet.
The
alleged chemical attacks are just one facet of the bloody conflict in
Syria that has killed more than 100,000 people and spilled over into
neighboring countries.
On Sunday, three
rockets fired from Syria landed on the Lebanese border town of Hermel,
causing damage but no casualties, security officials said. They spoke on
condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief the
media.
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Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, and Ryan Lucas and Yasmine Saker in Beirut contributed to this report.
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