Ex-Syrian minister: UN team’s visit to Syria on Assad government’s request

The chemical weapons used in Khan al-Assal area in Syria have apparently been produced in Turkish factories, a former Syrian minister said, reiterating that the UN investigation team is visiting the Muslim country upon a request by the Damascus government. “My country requested the UN to probe into this issue after the terrorists used chemical weapons (against civilians) in Khan al-Assal area,” Former Syrian Information Dissemination Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah told FNA in Damascus on Saturday. He underlined that the said chemical weapons have been seemingly produced in Turkish factories. Meantime, Dakhlallah said that Russia has probed into the matter and announced in a report that the terrorists have used chemical weapons against the Syrian citizens in Khan al-Assal near Aleppo. “Russia’s report has been accepted in the UN because it has been prepared by a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” he added. Head of the UN chemical weapons investigation team Ake Sellstrom and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane are in Damascus at the invitation of the Syrian government to probe chemical weapons allegations in the Muslim country. Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Martin Nesirky told reporters that the visit by Sellstrom and Kane takes place at the invitation of the government. Earlier this week, Syrian Health Minister Saad al-Nayef described the western officials and media claims about the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons as sheer lie, and said the rebel groups used such weapons in the Khan al-Assal rural area of Aleppo in Northwestern Syria. “Certain enemies of Syria claim that government forces used chemical weapons against the country’s people which is strongly dismissed,” Nayef said. “We are sure that the terrorists used chemical weapons in Khan al-Assal area of Aleppo province,” he added. Nayef said that the Syrian health ministry has treated all those affected by the terrorists’ chemical weapons. Terrorists fired a rocket containing chemical substances in the Khan al-Assal area of rural Aleppo in March and reports indicated that around 25 people were killed, most of them civilians. After that Syria asked for an independent investigation into the use of chemical weapons by militants in Aleppo. Later, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the decision for conducting an independent investigation into the terrorist chemical attack. “I have decided to conduct a United Nations investigation into the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria,” Ban told reporters in his office, adding that “I intend for this investigation to start as soon as practically possible.” The chemical attack came after a video footage posted on the internet late in January showed that the armed militants in Syria possessed canisters containing chemical substances. The foreign-sponsored militants had earlier released footage in which rabbits were killed by inhaling poisonous gas.