U.N. chemical weapons team in Turkey to investigate Syria claims
AMSTERDAM/ANKARA (Reuters) - U.N.-appointed inspectors, blocked from entering Syria, are in Turkey to gather information about possible use of chemical weapons in the civil war, officials said on Thursday.
The Syrian government and rebels fighting it have accused each other of using lethal chemical agents, including sarin gas, in the two-year-old conflict in which the death toll is estimated at more than 100,000.
The United States and its European allies have concluded that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, which Washington called a "red line" that justified providing military aid to the rebels.
Members of the team assembled by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been on standby in Cyprus since April, unable to enter Syria as Western governments accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of chemical weapons attacks.
More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/27/us-syria-crisis-chemicalweapons-idUSBRE95Q0X220130627
