UN Chemical Weapons Inspectors Still Awaiting Access To Douma

Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are awaiting approval from a United Nations advanced security team to visit the site of an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian regime in the town of Douma—located in the strategic Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta that was recently retaken by pro-government forces in a fierce two-month offensive. The OPCW inspectors arrived in Syria on Saturday, immediately following a coordinated attack by the United States, France and Britain targeting three of the Assad regime’s chemical arms facilities. The Western countries contend, based on their own intelligence and local reports, that chlorine gas and possibly a nerve agent were deployed in the April 7 assault that killed dozens of people. The White House also has raised concerns that Russia is purposely delaying the fact-finding mission and that its forces may have tampered with evidence after the last rebel fighters were ousted from Douma last week. The OPCW was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for its “extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons;” this, after it was tasked with implementing an agreement between Washington and Moscow to fully dismantle Syria’s non-conventional weapons infrastructure and remove any such arms from the country.