UN report confirms chemical weapon use in Syria

The UN report said chemical weapons were used in about 5 instances

The UN mission tasked with assessing whether chemical weapons had been used in the Syrian conflict has concluded in its final report that chemicals were actually used.

The experts investigated seven instances of alleged use and found that chemical weapons were either used, or likely used, in five of those instances.

The case that was most clear to inspectors was an August incident near the capital, Damascus.

“The UN Mission collected clear and convincing evidence that chemical weapons were used against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale in the Ghouta area of Damascus on August 21, 2013,” the 82-page report noted, which was released on Thursday.

It found blood and urine samples from patients who tested positive for sarin and sarin signatures.

Anti-government activist groups said more than 1,300 people were killed in the attack in Ghouta, many of them women and children.

Graphic video footage showed rows of bodies without apparent injury, as well as people suffering convulsions or apparently struggling to breathe.

UN inspectors also said they collected credible information, or evidence consistent with the probable use of chemical weapons in Khan al Asal, Jobar, Saraqueb and Ashrafiah Sahnaya.

However, they were unable to corroborate the allegation that chemical weapons were used in either Bahhariyeh or Sheik Maqsood.

The report did not specify whether the government or opposition groups were responsible for the alleged attacks, which happened between March and August this year.

The UN estimated that more than 100,000 people have died since the Syrian conflict started in March 2011.

It began with a government crackdown on peaceful protesters during the Arab Spring movement, and then slowly spiralled into a bloody, full-blown civil war.

(Reuters/NAN)