BRUSSELS, April 24 (RAPSI) – Moscow is calling for an immediate investigation into all cases of chemical weapons use in Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference on the NATO-Russia Council meeting on Tuesday.
According to Lavrov it would be unacceptable for the UN Secretary General not to send experts to Syria when the Syrian government has agreed to give them access to anywhere in the country where chemical weapons are reported to have been used.
Officials in Damascus state that opposition fighters unleashed a chemical attack near the city of Aleppo, the country’s economic capital, on March 19. As many as 31 people were killed, including 16 military servicemen, and 130 others injured when attackers fired a rocket loaded with chemical agents which caused gas poisoning.
The Syrian government has asked the UN to investigate the Aleppo attack. Ban Ki Moon has granted this request, as well as Western countries’ demand to investigate the possible use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government in Homs. A group of UN inspectors was sent to Syria, but got no further than Cyprus, as the Syrian government insisted on limiting the probe to the Aleppo incident.