U.N. Chemical Weapons Inspectors Attacked in Syria
A group of chemical weapons experts in Syria were attacked Tuesday, but none of the members of the team were harmed.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported that the experts, who were investigating the use of chlorine bombs in the country, are safe and have returned to base.
Rebel militants were accused of abducting the members of the OPCW/U.N. fact-finding team, who traveled to Hama to investigate the government's alleged use of illegal chlorine bombs, Reuters reports.
According to the OPCW, "a convoy of OPCW inspectors and United Nations staff was traveling to a site of an alleged chlorine gas attack" when it came under attack.
"All team members are safe and well and are traveling back to the operating base," it said in a statement.
President Bashar al-Assad agreed to turn over Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons last year after hundreds of citizens were killed by a government sarin gas attack near Damascus. Bashar al-Assad has been urged by rebel fighters and protestors to vacate his position, but has staunchly refused, despite a bloody civil war that has raged on for more than three years.
Damascus denied ever using chlorine, but anti-government rebels insist that the gas was dropped from helicopters in "barrel bombs."
The fact-finders had reportedly been trying to reach the village of Kfar Zeita, and a ceasefire had been agreed upon for 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to allow the team to work.
Then the two cars carrying six team members and five Syrian drivers were taken by "terrorist groups."
One car was hit by a bomb, which forced the convoy to turn around. However, only one of the vehicles was able to return.
According to Hama Media Centre, an opposition group, the attack was carried out by Assad's government.
Yet, just last week, OPCW said that Syrian authorities agreed to provide security for inspections of sites in areas controlled by the government.
Inspectors who were investigating earlier allegations of chemical weapon use were fired at by snipers and rockets, which landed near their hotels.
Syria is behind schedule in terms of eliminating its chemical weapons; it has only eliminated 8 percent of 1,300 metric tons of chemical weapons. It looks likely that Syria will miss its deadline of June 30 to eliminate the whole stockpile.
Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in October as part of a U.S.-Russian agreement to stop its chemical weapons program. The convention bans the use of chlorine as a weapon.