UN Team to Brief Ban Ki-Moon on Syria

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
will receive a briefing from his chemical
weapons team on its mission to Syria.
The inspectors are due to leave the
country Saturday.

The U.N. chief cut short an official trip to
Austria to return to headquarters, as the
possibility of a military reprisal against
President Bashar al-Assad’s
government continued to loom after a
suspected poison gas attack near
Damascus last week killed hundreds of
people.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told
reporters that the team of U.N. scientific
experts investigating the August 21
attack near Damascus will leave Syria
by Saturday morning. He said some of
them will remain in Europe to oversee
the delivery and analysis of samples to
laboratories in order to ensure the chain
of custody.

Haq said U.N. disarmament chief Angela
Kane and some of the inspectors will be
in New York in the coming days to brief
the secretary-general.
“They will have a large number of facts
at their disposal, they’ve collected a
considerable amount of evidence -
evidence through samples, evidence
through witness interviews - they can
construct from that a fact-based
narrative that can get at the key facts of
what happened on the 21st of August,”
said Haq.

He added the team will present a final
report once laboratory results had been
received.
“It is imperative that the work that the
investigation team does be seen by all
as fair, impartial and accurate. And so
they will do their very best for accuracy
while trying to get all the results in as
soon as they possibly can do,” stressed
Haq.

World powers met again Thursday at the
U.N. Security Council. Russia called the
meeting of the other permanent Council
members - Britain, China, France and
the United States. Talks lasted about 45
minutes. Diplomats refused to brief
reporters on what transpired, but it
appeared there were no breakthroughs.
On Wednesday, the group had met to
discuss a resolution, proposed by
Britain, that would authorize “all
necessary measures” to protect Syrian
civilians.

Meanwhile, what appeared to be an
imminent U.S. and British-led military
response came to a sudden halt.
Lawmakers in both countries have
demanded detailed briefings and
evidence to support their governments’
belief that President Assad conducted
the August 21 poison gas attack.
In Washington, President Barack
Obama’s top national security advisers
briefed members of Congress. In
London, Prime Minister David Cameron
said he would act accordingly, when
British lawmakers voted late Thursday
against that government's military
involvement in Syria.

A State Department spokesperson said
the president will continue
contemplating what to do in close
consultation with U.S. allies.

UN Team to Brief Ban Ki-Moon on Syria