Syria: Widening of UN Chemical Arms Probe “Maneuvers That Violate Sovereignty”

Syria refused to give “unfettered access” for the UN team tasked with probing the use of chemical weapons in Khan al-Asal village in Aleppo last month.

Damascus considered the UN demand “maneuvers that violate the Syrian sovereignty”.

An official source at Syria’s Foreign Ministry said that Damascus “Syria regrets that Ki-Moon has yielded to the pressures practiced by countries known for their support to the Syrian bloodshed in order to divert the consultations in this regard from their real context. “

According to official news agency, SANA, the official said that the mutual messages between Syrian and the UN indicated there was a progress regarding sending a “fair, unbiased technical mission to Khan al-Asal village”.

However, Ban, “while his presence in the Hague, asked additional investigations which might allow the UN Mission to spread all over the Syrian territories, and this contradicts the Syrian request,” the official said.

He noted that the UN decision “constitutes a violation of the Syrian sovereignty,” stressing that “Syria couldn’t accept such “maneuvers” by the UN, taking into consideration the real negative role which it played in Iraq that paved the way for the US invasion.”

Following Damascus’ request for UN to send a fair and unbiased probe team, Ban has demanded that the physics, chemical and health experts be given “unfettered access” in Syria.