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August 26th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Snipers have shot at United Nations experts in Syria, forcing them to pull back from an attempt to investigate a chemical weapons attack near Damascus.
The attack by unidentified shooters further ratchets up tensions after a defiant Syrian president Bashar al-Assad declared that any strike by the US and its allies would be doomed to failure and key ally Moscow said it could have dangerous consequences for the entire region.
Doctors Without Borders said 355 people died of “neurotoxic” symptoms when toxic gases were unleashed last Wednesday. Syria’s opposition claims more than 1,300 people were killed.
The attack on UN inspectors forced them to suspend their inspection but no injuries were reported, spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
“The first vehicle of the chemical weapons investigation team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers,” he said.
Chemical weapons in Syria:
Syria is understood to have the third largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the world – including sarin and other nerve gases.
It is also one of the few countries not to have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention alongside Angola, Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan.
Amid accusations by Syrian activists that forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad have used nerve gas to kill more than 200 people, we look back over similar allegations made during the conflict.
“The team themselves, the team members… are safe and they returned to the government checkpoint and they will return to the area after replacing the vehicle.”
Syria blamed rebel forces for the attack on a UN team trying to enter the site with Syria TV, citing an information ministry source, reporting the international experts were shot at by “terrorists”, a term it commonly uses to describe rebels trying to topple Assad’s regime.
“The Syrian government will hold the armed terrorist groups responsible for the safety of the members of the United Nations team,” the source added, according to state television.
State television said that security forces “had escorted (the inspectors) to the site controlled by these groups”.
Syrian authorities had approved the UN inspection of the site in Ghouta, east of Damascus, on Sunday, but US officials said it was too little, too late, arguing that persistent shelling there in recent days had “corrupted” the site.
Mortar shells also hit a mosque in the centre of Damascus on Monday, the Syrian news agency SANA said, also blaming “terrorists”, its term for rebel fighters.
Assad, in an interview with a Russian newspaper published on Monday, angrily denied accusations his regime used chemical weapons as an “insult to common sense” and said any military action was doomed to failure.
“The United States faces failure just like in all the previous wars they waged,” he said.
Carr in no hurry for response plan
Despite the strengthening rhetoric, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr says he is happy for the international community to take its time to decide how to respond to the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.
Prime Minster Kevin Rudd and Senator Carr received a briefing in Canberra over the weekend on the situation in Syria and possible responses, if it is proven the Assad regime is involved.
Senator Carr says something needs to be done, but people need to realise civilian deaths would be inevitable if military action is taken.
He told Lateline the White House is weighing up its options and will brief Australia, but he is happy not to rush the process.
“The caution of the Obama administration is very well placed… is to be applauded, I’d be happy if they took as long about this as they need to,” Senator Carr said.
“I think Australians are one, filled with revulsion about the prospect of a government in this day and age using chemical weapons to achieve a mass atrocity.
“But two, after Iraq, comfortable with an American administration that is carefully weighing consequences here, fully aware of unintended outcomes.”
He said it was important for the UN to collect credible evidence on who is responsible for the chemical attack to determine what action may be taken.
“The Russians have been very, very hard-headed on this and prepared to cut slack to their ally, their friend, their supporter in the region, the Assad government,” he said.
“However, if the evidence is compelling enough – that is not only of chemical weapons used but is used by the Assad forces – I would like to think president [Vladimir] Putin’s administration would say ‘that is enough’.”
International community divided on a response
The international community has long been divided over how to respond to the conflict, with Russia and China repeatedly blocking UN Security Council resolutions.
The latest allegations have driven a new wedge between Russia and the West, with Moscow saying the suspected attack was a rebel ploy to discredit the Assad regime. China has backed a UN investigation into the charges, but urged a “cautious” response.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned his US counterpart John Kerry of the “extremely dangerous consequences of a possible new military intervention for the whole Middle East and North Africa region”.
“The use of force without the approval of the United Nations Security Council is a very grave violation of international law,” he said.
“If anybody thinks that bombing and destroying the Syrian military infrastructure, and leaving the battlefield for the opponents of the regime to win, would end everything – that is an illusion.”
British prime minister David Cameron is cutting short his holiday to chair a meeting of Britain’s National Security Council to discuss how best to respond to a reported chemical weapons attack in Syria.
Britain has said the West could act even without full UN Security Council backing, with China and Moscow likely to boycott any resolution backing a military strike.
“Is it possible to respond to chemical weapons without complete unity on the UN Security Council? I would argue yes,” British foreign secretary William Hague told the BBC, refusing to rule out a military strike this week.
France said the West would decide in the coming days on a response.
“The only option that I do not envisage is to do nothing,” foreign minister Laurent Fabius said on French radio.
Turkey, a vehement opponent of the Assad regime, said it would join an international coalition against Syria even if the Security Council fails to reach consensus on the issue, while Germany said there would have to be “consequences” for the regime if the accusations against it are confirmed.
US defence secretary Chuck Hagel said commanders had prepared a range of military options and were positioning their forces for “whatever the president might choose”.
He did not elaborate, but a defence official said the US Navy would expand its presence in the Mediterranean with a fourth warship armed with cruise missiles.
AFP
Topics:
unrest-conflict-and-war,
world-politics,
intergovernmental-organisations,
government-and-politics,
syrian-arab-republic
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-26/snipers-shoot-at-un-chemical-weapons-team-in-syria/4913746
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