The UN will not allow OPCW inspectors to the Duma
The city continued shelling.
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The inspectors of the Organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons (OPCW) can not proceed to the investigation of the events in the Syrian Duma, where on April 7 alleged use of chemical weapons. The UN said that the situation in the city is too dangerous. Indeed, on Tuesday during an attack on a convoy of the UN in the Duma was wounded the employee of power structures of Syria. Meanwhile, the delay in the investigation of the incident, the U.S. accused Russia.
Yesterday OPCW Director General Ahmet üzümcü said that the specialists of the Department of safety and security UN (EXT) arrived in the Duma on Tuesday to assess the possibility of starting the work of the inspectors in the city where 7 APR supposedly there was a chemical attack.
According to him, one of the points “around a large crowd and experts the DOB has decided to leave”. In the second paragraph, the group “has undergone a small fire, and explosion”.
According to the head of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the warring parties, the General-the major Yury Yevtushenko, during the attack on the convoy carrying the UN officer was wounded one of the security agencies of Syria, the Russian military was not injured. Earlier Kommersant’s source in Damascus reported that wounded a Russian officer who accompanied the column.
We will remind, according to information associated with the Syrian opposition organization “White helmets”, April 7, in the Syrian city of Duma has been a chemical attack, which allegedly were from 40 to 175 people. The Syrian government invited the OPCW to verify this information. However, the United States, Britain and France did not wait for official investigation and blamed the incident on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. April 14, on the basis of information from open sources, citing intelligence sources, the Western coalition has launched missile attacks on Syria. It happened the day before the originally planned start date of the work of the OPCW mission in the Duma.
This Monday the United States accused Russia that it does not give international experts to come to the Duma, said that Moscow and Damascus could commit tampering with evidence in the attack.
Meanwhile, according to the informed source “” in Damascus, the Russian military are doing everything possible to the work of the inspectors was safe. A group of OPCW was ready to take more thought on Monday. As for the attacks, the recurrence of incidents cannot be ruled out completely, as not all the militants of the armed group “Jaish al-Islam” has left the Duma, some chose to stay and continue the resistance.
As for the “manipulation of evidence”, as stated by “Kommersant” expert on chemical weapons, a former UN inspector for Iraq, Anton Utkin, “in the case of use of chemical weapons in an urban environment, in particular a bomb attack, 20-30% of toxic substances is driven into the ground, the rest gets on the walls of houses and building constructions”. “Traces of the building structures can be found within a few months, if not years. In the soil, provided it was applied a high concentration of toxic substances, it is possible to find traces for two to three months, if there was torrential rain. To destroy the traces, you need to destroy dozens of buildings and raze to the ground two metres on a large plot. To do it for a couple weeks is unrealistic,” — said the source “b”. According to him, the main thing in such situations is to find the victims, to inspect the bodies and interview witnesses. As the head of the White helmets Raed Saleh told Reuters that his organization has informed the international inspectors, where are buried the victims of a possible attack. The Russian authorities assure that the chemical attack in the Duma was staged.
The representative of the UN Secretary General Stefan Dujarric reported yesterday that, “as soon as practicable”, the security personnel of the organization will make another visit to the Duma, to reconnoiter the situation.
Marianna Belenkaya
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