Syria rejects partial reports on chemical weapons

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Friday rejected any partial reports by the UN secretariat before investigators complete the probe into the alleged use of chemical weapons in the country, state-run SANA news agency reported.

The minister said this during a phone call with UN chief Ban Ki-moon after the UN said the chemical investigators would leave Syria Saturday, Xinhua reported.

“Syria rejects any partial reports before the completion of the mission and the completion of the laboratorial tests of the samples assembled by the team,” al-Moallem said.

According to SANA, the minister asked Ban about the reasons behind the abruption of the UN team’s mission, urging him to stick to evenhandedness. He also stressed that any aggression against Syria would “blow up all of the exerted efforts to politically solve the Syrian crisis”.

He requested that the UN team should also investigate the sites where the government accused the rebels of using nerve agents against troops and civilians.

The UN team did not investigate all reported instances of chemical weapons’ use, but its officials promised to return to Syria after submitting the result of their primary investigation.

The UN probe team, led by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, has been carrying out its work without incidents after a pause Tuesday when its convoy was attacked by snipers while heading to Damascus’ eastern suburb of Ghouta, where chemical weapons were allegedly used Aug 21.

-IANS