Syria invites UN officials to discuss claims of chemical weapons use

The Syrian government has invited two senior UN officials to discuss allegations of using chemical weapons.

On Monday, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, the UN official to investigate the claims, and UN High Representative for Disarmament Angela Kane had been invited for talks.

“We are sure that Ms Kane and Dr. Sellstrom will have constructive negotiations with the Syrian officials in order to reach an agreement, a mutual agreement on the terms of reference, mechanism and time frame of the mission,” Ja’afari said.

The Syrian envoy also made reference to the storing of toxic chemicals by the foreign-sponsored militants, saying, “The Syrian authorities have discovered yesterday in the city of Banias 281 barrels filled with dangerous, hazardous chemical materials.”

He added that the chemicals were “capable of destroying a whole city, if not the whole country.”

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky called the offer by the Syrian government as “a move in the right direction.” Nesirky, however, didn’t make any remarks regarding the acceptance or refusal of the invitation.

On June 13, US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes claimed in a White House statement that the Syrian government “has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale” against the foreign-backed Takfiri militants “multiple times in the last year.”

Damascus dismissed the US allegations and the Syrian Foreign Ministry stated, “The White House published a statement full of lies about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, based on fabricated information, through which it is trying to hold the Syrian government responsible for such use.”

On June 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the materials collected by the Obama administration regarding the use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops would not meet the requirements of the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Syria says the militants have used chemical weapons on several occasions, including an attack in the region of Khan al-Assal in the northwestern province of Aleppo on March 19, where over two dozen people died.

The unrest in Syria erupted over two years ago and many people, including large numbers of Syrian soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.