Muallem Says Syria Rejects 'Partial' U.N. Report on Alleged Gas Attack as Experts End Probe
Syria will reject any partial U.N. conclusions on an alleged deadly gas attack last week before full analyses are undertaken, state television said Friday as a U.N. team prepared to wrap up its probe.
The report cited Syria's foreign minister Walid Muallem as telling U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon by phone that his country would "refuse any partial report published by the U.N. Secretary-General before the mission finished its work and the results of analyses of samples taken by the mission came to light".
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said later on Friday that the U.N. experts have finished their work in Syria and will now "expedite" a report on whether chemical weapons have been used in the country's conflict.
"The team has completed its collection of samples and evidence," Nesirky told reporters. "They are now packing up, they will be leaving Damascus and leaving Syria tomorrow."
U.N. inspectors are currently in Syria probing the alleged deadly gas attack on August 21 in Damascus suburbs, and are due to leave the country by Saturday morning before reporting directly to Ban.
They will send the "considerable" evidence they have collected over the days on the sites of the alleged attack and other areas to laboratories for full analysis that could take several weeks.
Western governments have blamed the alleged attack on the regime of Bashar Assad, which has strenuously denied any involvement while pointing the finger of blame at "terrorist" rebels.
Questions have been raised about the quality of the intelligence linking Assad to the attack, and many say the West should wait for the U.N. analysis results before deciding to carry out its threat to launch punitive military action.
Source: Agence France Presse
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