UN chemical report

UN chief receives Syria chemical report

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has received a report by UN experts on a reported chemical attack in the suburbs of Syrian capital last month.

al-alalam,

15 September, 2013

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said on Sunday that Ban will brief the UN Security Council on the findings on Monday morning.

"The report by the United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic has been turned over to the secretary general," Nesirky said.

"It was transmitted today, September 15, to the secretary general by Professor Ake Sellstrom, the head of the mission, and the secretary general will provide it to the member states tomorrow morning," the spokesman said.

"On Monday morning, the secretary general will brief the Security Council on the report during its closed consultations," he added.

Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari said on Saturday that Syrian authorities were planning to submit their own report of chemical attack as well.

Ja’afari noted Syria was examining samples from the site on the outskirts of Damascus.

A US plan to bomb the country over the attack which Washington rushed to blame on the Syrian government was canceled with Russia’s mediation that sought to ease the tensions by putting Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons under international control.

On September 3, the UN secretary general said that only the Security Council can authorize any use of force against Syria over the chemical weapons attack.

“As I have repeatedly said, the Security Council has primary responsibility for international peace and security,” Ban Ki-moon told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

“The use of force is lawful only when in exercise of self-defense in accordance with article 51 of the United Nations Charter and or when the Security Council approves such action,” Ban said in remarks that appeared to challenge the legality of US plans to launch a military offensive against Syria without a UN mandate.