UN believes chemical weapons used in Syria

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United Nations investigators said on Tuesday they had "reasonable grounds" to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons had been used in Syria in a conflict where brutality was now a tactic of war, Reuters reports.

In their latest report, human rights investigators said they had received allegations that Syrian government forces and rebels had used the banned weapons, but most testimony related to their use by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Increasing reports from the battlefield of the use of chemical weapons have sounded alarm bells in the West, lending urgency to a new diplomatic push to end the war. United States Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that the use of chemical weapons was unacceptable.

In Syria, Qusair came under renewed missile attack as fighting there dragged into its third week, prompting calls for humanitarian access to offer some relief to the thousands trapped in the city under siege by government forces.

Those hoping to save themselves were faced with the agonising choice of digging holes in the ground to escape the bombing or embarking on a perilous cross-country trek to neighbouring Lebanon.

The UN commission said it examined four reported toxic attacks in Syria in March and April but could not determine which side was behind them.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that limited quantities of toxic chemicals were used. It has not been possible, on the evidence available, to determine the precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator," Paulo Pinheiro, who chairs the UN commission of inquiry, told a news conference in Geneva.

"The witnesses that we have interviewed include victims, refugees who fled some areas, and medical staff," Pinheiro said, declining to be more specific for reasons of confidentiality.

Assad's government and its opponents have accused each other of using chemical weapons.

Syria's ambassador, Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, in a debate at the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, questioned the "neutrality and professionalism" of the panel.

Russian Ambassador Alexey Borodavkin called for UN experts to be sent to Khan al-Assal in the northern Aleppo province, where an alleged chemical weapons strike took place on March 19, one of the four cited by the inquiry.

A team of UN inspectors has so far been denied access to Syria and has been unable to establish whether chemical weapons have been used.

The UN rights team of more than 20 investigators conducted 430 interviews from January 15 to May 15 among refugees in neighbouring countries and by Skype with people still in Syria.



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