A US official has revealed that there may have been no chemical weapons used in a deadly incident occurring Tuesday in Syria’s Aleppo. Meanwhile the UN has launched a full-scale investigation into the disputed attack.
"Our growing sense is that weaponized chemical weapons were
not used," claimed the US official, speaking anonymously on
Thursday. A European security official has taken the same
stance, saying that the death toll in the event of a chemical
attack would be much higher than presently recorded. He added that
there was no evidence to support the allegation, despite prior
accusations by a multitude of Western officials.
The Syrian government and rebel forces have been directing blame at
each other for using chemical agents after a recent rocket attack
near the province of Aleppo claimed 26 lives.
While Barack Obama reiterated his stance regarding President Bashar
Assad, saying that he would be held accountable if found to have
carried out the attack, UN chief Ban Ki-moon promised a probe as
soon as possible. "I have decided to conduct a United Nations
investigation into the possible use of chemical weapons in
Syria," Ban Ki-moon told reporters, specifying that the
investigation will focus on the Aleppo attack, "the specific
incident brought to my attention by the Syrian government."
The UN investigators will cooperate with experts with the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the
World Health Organization (WHO). The incident will be investigated
as a single case, which goes against France and the UK’s initial
request to investigate another supposed attack, allegedly in
Damascus.
Moscow has expressed hope that the US and France are not going to
hamper the UN investigation into the Aleppo chemical attack in
Syria. “I expressed hope that their initiatives are not attempts
to postpone, hamper or prevent the investigation into what happened
on March 19, because this issue needs urgent attention,”
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin
stated.
Churkin’s US counterpart, Susan Rice, supported the probe in a
statement on Thursday. "As the UN proceeds with these efforts,
we will also continue to work closely with our partners to obtain
further information regarding any and all credible allegations of
the potential or actual use of chemical weapons in Syria," said
Rice.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator John McCain and the Democrat Chairman
of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, continued with
the anti-Assad rhetoric, saying in a letter to President Obama that
“the potential use of chemical weapons only makes the case for
greater action more compelling and urgent."