Ki-Moon: UN investigation mission will return to Syria for final report

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, announced that the UN investigation mission probing allegations of chemical weapons use will go back to Syria as soon as possible to conduct more investigations, particularly Khan al-Assal, with the aim of issuing the final report.

At a press conference following a closed-door meeting at the UN Security Council where he listened to the report of the investigators, Ki-Moon said, “The report proved that chemical weapons were used on a relatively large scale in Damascus countryside on August 21st claiming a large number of victims.”

He stressed the necessity of “ending killing and fighting and exerting all efforts to compel the Syrian parties to sit at the negotiations table,” highlighting readiness to call for convening an international conference on Syria in Geneva.

Ki-Moon welcomed Syria’s decision to join the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Russian-U.S. agreement on the chemical weapons in Syria.

Churkin: objectivity and accuracy needed to study UN Investigation Mission’s report

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Vitali Churkin, stressed the necessity of avoiding immediate results and conclusions while studying the report of the international investigation mission probing allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria, adding that objectivity and accuracy are needed.

Following the closed-door UN Security Council meeting, Churkin said that the report must be studied by specialists and military and technical experts as it is a 100-page report full of scientific research.