UN watchdog says chemical weapons may have been used in Syria THREE times since the attack that caused international outrage
- Inspectors sifting through evidence for seven alleged chemical attacks
- UN on verge of passing plan of disarmament to begin as early as Tuesday
- Inspectors given power to review evidence from non-UN 'State Party'
- Plan is a rare show of unity between Russia and US
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United Nations weapons inspectors are investigating reports that three further chemical weapons attacks were carried out in Syria after the 21 August Damascus incident, which sparked threats of international military strikes.
A UN statement said that a total of seven alleged incidents of chemical weapons use were under investigation, and that an inspection team currently in the country was meant to wrap up its investigation on Monday.
Attacks are alleged to have included chemical agents in Khan al-Assal on March 19, Sheikh Maqsoud on April 13, Saraqeb on April 29, Ghouta on August 21, Bahhariyeh on August 22, Jobar on August 24, and Ashrafiah Sahnaya on August 25.
More chemical attacks: A convoy of vehicles carrying UN inspectors crosses into Lebanon from Syria. They are investigating allegations that there were further Chemical weapons attacks in the war-torn region in late August
The revelation of further chemical attacks comes on the day that the UN was set to discuss a disarmament plan for the war-torn country, which could see a full inspection programme of Syria's chemical arsenal begin by Tuesday.
After the US and Russia agreed to the text of a draft agreement for the disarmament of the country, the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are to discuss an inspection programme tonight.
Chemical weapons watchdog will discuss Friday a disarmament plan for Syria that calls for inspections of the civil war-torn country's chemical arsenal to begin by Tuesday.
US-led inspections: Secretary of State John Kerry, who inadvertently initiated the plan to relieve Syria of its chemical weapons, and Ahmed Asi Al-Jerba, president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, at the UN yesterday
The OPCW has authorised inspectors to look at 'any other site identified by a State Party as having been involved in the Syrian chemical weapons programme, unless deemed unwarranted by the Director-General'.
That goes beyond usual practice, as the organisation has only previously inspected sites that have been declared by UN member states.
The draft, being discussed tonight, calls for the organisation's secretariat to: '...as soon as possible and no later than 1 October 2013, initiate inspections in the Syrian Arab Republic'.
It further lays out the target of destroying all of Syria's chemical weapons and equipment by 'the first half of 2014'.
The disarmament plan represents a significant breakthrough and rare unity between Russia, which has supported Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, and the US.
Fighting continues: A fighter in the Free Syrian Army fires from a defensive position in Aleppo's Sheikh Saeed neighbourhood, where conventional fighting is continuing with government forces
A celebration before battle: Syrian rebels clap and dance in a household ahead of returning to the battlefront around Aleppo International Airport
According to the plan, Damascus must provide more detailed information on its arsenal within a week of the decision being approved.
Syria must provide: the name and quantity of all chemicals in its weapons stockpile; the type of and quantity of munitions that can be used to fire chemical weapons; the location of the weapons, storage facilities and production facilities; and the destruction of all chemical weapons production and mixing or filling equipment.
The decision calls on Syria to 'co-operate fully with all aspects of the implementation of this decision, including providing the OPCW personnel with the immediate and unfettered right to inspect any and all sites in the Syrian Arab Republic.'
Airstrike: Smoke rises from the ruins of buildings in Homs, which are still the setting of fierce fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad
Struggling to carry on: Residents of Syria's eastern town of Deir Ezzor walk past the debris of a building reportedly hit by a missile yesterday
The recent flurry of diplomatic activity was triggered by the August 21 poison gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians in a Damascus suburb, and President Barack Obama's subsequent threat to use military force.
When US Secretary of State John Kerry said Syria could avert US military action by turning over 'every single bit of his chemical weapons' to international control within a week, Russia quickly agreed.
Mr Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed an agreement in Geneva on September 13 to put Syria's chemical weapons under international control for later destruction, and the Syrian government accepted and quickly signed up to Chemical Weapons Convention.
Car bomb kills 30, injures dozens, in mosque blast
Syrian activists say a car bomb near a mosque in a town north of Damascus has killed at least 30 people.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that monitors the crisis, says the explosion struck as worshippers at the al-Sahel mosque in Rankous were leaving after Friday prayers.
Observatory’s director Rami Abdul-Rahman says dozens of people were also wounded in the bombing.
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Sophiel, Dorchester, 2 days ago
The two journalist who were held hostage by the rebels, stated they had overheard them discussing their involvement in the chemical act in a conversation on Skype. In an interview with Der Spiegel the rebel leader stated he co-ordinated his men via Skype, so it is plausible that what they overheard was correct? Also the accounts by nuns from a nearby Convent, who went to the scene has had no western coverage at all!