From the Al Jazeera Syria Live Blog (the posts go from newest to oldest, all today)
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153
Syria about 3 hours ago
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon spoke on Tuesday with Ahmet Üzümcü, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and shared deep concern about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria.
According to a readout of the phone conversation between the two officials, Ban Ki-Moon "remains convinced that the use of chemical weapons by any party under any circumstances would constitute an outrageous crime".
The statement said: "The Secretary-General reaffirmed his strong support for the work of the OPCW which is closely monitoring the situation on the ground. The Secretary-General and the Director General of the OPCW will continue to maintain close contact as developments unfold."
Source: Agencies
Tags syria, OPCW, Ban Ki-moon, chemical weapons, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical WeaponsSyria about 4 hours ago
Colonel Malik al-Kurdi, deputy commander for the Free Syrian Army, told Al Jazeera that the Syrian regime’s claim that rebels a chemical weapon at Khan al-Assal is baseless:
This kind of weapons is not available with the Free Syrian Army, as they do not have the (technical) capabilities for using chemical weapons that need laboratories and other means for operating them which the FSA cannot possess at this stage.
In principle, we fully reject in absolute terms, the use of this kind of weapons because they are not defensive weapons, but are designed for mass murder, which is contrary to the principles of the FSA and the Syrian revolution."
[AFP]
Syria about 9 hours ago
Ziad Haddad, a medic in Aleppo, told Al Jazeera several patients arrived in the emergency room earlier this morning with cases of suffocation and constricted pupils.
"Several of them died of respiratory inhibition," he said.
Haddad said the victims seemed to have been exposed to organic pesticides and not chemical weapons, like Sarin and VX nerve agents.
"Victims spoke of pungent smell. Chemical weapons are usually odourless."
“Moreover , the number of deaths is small compared to those who would have died had chemical weapons been used." He estimates that 25 people have been killed in the attack in Khan al-Assal.
Haddad said the casualties included Syrian regime soldiers and pro- Assad armed men.
Earlier, Sana state news agency on Tuesday accused rebels of launching "a rocket [that] contains chemical materials" on Khan al-Assal.
Syria about 9 hours ago
The United States said Tuesday it had seen "no evidence" that Syrian rebels have used chemical weapons and warned it would be "totally unacceptable" for the regime in Damascus to use such arms.
Responding to claims by the Syrian government and its ally Russia, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the United States has "no evidence to substantiate the charge that the opposition has used chemical weapons."
[AFP]
Syria about 11 hours ago
Russian Foreign Ministry says Syrian rebels have used chemical weapons, killing 16 people and injuring 100 others.
The ministry said the attack represented an "extremely dangerous" development in the two-year Syrian crisis. It said the rebels detonated a munition containing an unidentified chemical agent early Tuesday in the province of Aleppo. It didn't give further details.
Syria's state-run news agency has also accused the rebels of the attack, saying 25 people died, but the rebels say government forces fired the weapon.
Russia said that the evidence of rebels getting hold of weapons of mass destruction had taken the confrontation to a new stage.
Russia has been the main ally of President Bashar Assad's regime since the start of the uprising, in which more than 70,000 have died.
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