UN report on chemical weapons to be made public on Monday

The UN report on chemical weapons will be made public on Monday, September 16, a diplomatic source at the United Nations headquarters told Itar-Tass on Thursday. It is supposed to prove that chemical weapons, specifically, sarin nerve gas, were used in a Damascus outskirt on August 21. The source added that inspection results were already unofficially submitted to the UN secretariat during “informal consultations” with the UN Security Council. A team of UN experts visited Damascus and its suburbs in order to investigate alleged use of chemical weapons. Deployment of nerve gas led to escalation of Syrian conflict to international proportions, with the US calling for an allied military strike and the world community split on what actions (if any) should be taken against Damascus. In order to prevent a potential war, rarlier this week Russia urged Syria to place chemical weapons under international control. “We do not know whether Syria will agree to this, but if such international control over chemical weapons in that country helps avoid the strikes, we will start working with Damascus immediately,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, September 9. Foreign officials mostly supported this idea.