DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The international chemical weapons watchdog agency says all its staff members are safe after a convoy of inspectors came under attack in Syria.
The team was traveling to a rebel-held town where activists and Human Rights Watch say chlorine gas attacks last month killed two people.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has been working with the United Nations to oversee the destruction of the Syrian government’s stockpiles since September 2013, when President Bashar Assad’s administration acknowledged having chemical weapons and agreed to give them up to avoid the threat of U.S. military strikes.
Syria has since destroyed or handed over more than 90 percent of the weapons and toxic chemicals it has formally declared. Its sole remaining declared stockpile has been packaged for shipment out of the country to meet a June 30 deadline for destruction.
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144-c-12-(Barbara Surk, AP correspondent)-“it at all”-AP correspondent Barbara Surk reports there are conflicting reports — on one hand from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons or OPCW, and on the other hand from Syrian state media — about what happened to a convoy of chemical weapons inspectors who were traveling to the site of a suspected chlorine gas attack in Syria. (27 May 2014)
< 145-c-23-(Barbara Surk, AP correspondent)-“the operational base”-AP correspondent Barbara Surk reports details of the attack are unclear, but the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says the inspectors are fine. (27 May 2014) < 146-c-17-(Barbara Surk, AP correspondent)-“behind this attack”-AP correspondent Barbara Surk reports it isn’t known who attacked the weapons inspectors. (27 May 2014) < Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
