United Nations arms expert collects samples in Ghouta Soldiers from the Syrian government's troops have been exposed to chemical weapons, said Head of the UN team experts on the use of chemical weapons in Syria Ake Sellstrom. He, meanwhile, said that he could not identify whether the government or opposition fighters were responsible for the use of these weapons.
Speaking at a press conference, Sellstrom said that this was the first time which affirmed that the Syrian soldiers were attacked by chemical weapons.
Both the Syrian government and the opposition have accused each other of using chemical weapons. Both have denied all allegations.
The UN report said that in several instances, victims included soldiers and civilians. However, it was not always possible to determine direct links between the attacks, victims, and alleged sites of the incidents, according to Al-Arabiya news channel.
“The UN Mission collected clear and convincing evidence that chemical weapons were used also against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale in the Ghouta area of Damascus on 21 August 2013,” the report concludes.
The UN team said this overall assessment is based on findings of “impacted and exploded surface-to-surface rockets...found to contain Sarin”; in areas around where patients were affected, the environment was found to be “contaminated by Sarin”; over 50 interviews with survivors and health workers provided “corroboration of the medical and scientific results”; many patients and survivors were “diagnosed as intoxicated by an organophosphorous compound”; and blood and urine samples taken from the same patients tested “positive for Sarin and Sarin signatures.”
Based on the “sufficiency and credibility of the information received,” the UN team investigated seven of 16 sites connected to allegations reported to the UN Secretary-General by member states.
Source: MENA