UN team of inspectors arrives at Beirut's international airport

The UN team of inspectors arrived at Beirut's International Airport on Saturday escorted by Lebanese army special forces. The team had crossed earlier from Syria into Lebanon under heavy security, after investigating reports of alleged chemical weapon use by bashar al Assad regime. The team left Damascus earlier today after finishing an investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons, a spokesman in Syria and witnesses said. Twelve inspectors led by Ake Sellstrom were seen earlier loading their luggage leaving the Four Seasons hotel in central Damascus.  'I can confirm that the UN team has left Damascus,' Khaled al Masri, a journalist at the scene said. The UN team was tasked with determining whether chemical weapons had been used in Khan al-Asaal, in the northern province of Aleppo, and two other sites.  Their departure increased expectations of a possible US military strike against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. US President Barack Obama said Friday that he was weighing 'limited, narrow' action against Syria. On August 24, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent disarmament chief Angela Kane to pressure Damascus to allow UN experts already in Syria to investigate a rebel claim that the military used chemical weapons in Eastern al-Ghotta region. The Syrian opposition accused the regime of conducting a toxic gas attack on August 18 in an eastern suburb of Damascus. They claimed as many as 1,300 people had died, but the government rejected the allegation as 'absolutely baseless.' Ban Ki-moon met in New York earlier Friday on the Syria chemical-weapons crisis with ambassadors from the permanent five members of the Security Council-the United States, China, France, Britain, and Russia. Ban, who cut short a trip to Europe to return to U.N. headquarters, has been urging U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders not to attack Syria until U.N. chemical-weapons experts have completed their work in the country.