Chemical-weapons team attacked in Syria as abductions reported
A convoy of inspectors from the international watchdog overseeing the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons program came under fire on Tuesday in Syria but all staff members were safe, the organization said.
The statement came within minutes after Damascus said that armed men had abducted 11 people, including six members of a UN fact-finding mission and their Syrian drivers, in the countryside around Hama.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said its team was travelling to the site of an alleged chlorine gas attack site when the convoy was attacked.
The OPCW, which monitors the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and oversees the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons, had sent a team to Damascus this month to investigate claims that chlorine has been used in the central Syrian region of Hama.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/chemical-weapons-team-attacked-in-syria-all-members-safe/article18862198/