UN chemical inspector calls for new probe in Syria

The chief UN chemical weapons inspector in Syria has called for a new investigation to determine who was behind the August chemical attack in the Arab country.

Ake Sellstrom, who has recently been leading a team of inspectors in Syria, said on Tuesday that those responsible for the “hideous crime” should be brought to justice.

On August 21, hundreds of people were reportedly killed and scores of others injured in chemical attacks in eastern Ghouta on the suburbs of the capital city of Damascus.

The militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition accused the Syrian army of being behind the deadly attack. Damascus, however, strongly rejected the accusation, saying it was a false-flag operation carried out by Takfiri groups in a bid to draw in foreign military intervention.

Sellstrom said that his team gathered “lots of facts,” but not enough to determine “the guilty party in this.”

A broader investigation is needed to determine who used the chemical weapons, he added.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Monday that it was “absolutely obvious” that the foreign-backed militants in Syria were behind the August attack to “provoke foreign military intervention.”

On December 13, the UN mission probing allegations of chemical attacks in Syria said in a report that chemical weapons had probably been used at least five times during the foreign-sponsored turmoil in the country.

The report also said that the Syrian army forces and civilians were the victim of the chemical attacks in several cases.

On September 16, Sellstrom provided the UN with a preliminary report, which concluded that banned chemical weapons had been used in suburban Damascus on a large scale.