International chemical weapons inspectors were not able to go into the town of Douma in eastern Ghouta on Wednesday, a UN source in Syria told Reuters. The United States, Great Britain and France earlier accused Russia and the Assad regime of trying to tamper with the evidence in site of the crime.
Chemical weapons inspectors had to delay visiting the site of the chemical weapons attack in Douma after a UN security team reported gunfire at the location a day earlier, sources briefed on the team’s deployment told Reuters.
A preparatory team entered Douma on Tuesday, but not the experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the source added.
Associated Press journalists who entered Douma on Monday said that they spoke to survivors of the chemical attack who confirmed they were exposed to toxic gases. The survivors spoke to the journalists only when regime forces were away and could not hear for fear of reprisal.
France’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said it is “very likely” that proof had disappeared from the location of the gas attack in Douma, adding it was essential that international inspectors be given full access to the site after the Assad regime and Russian forces blocked their entry on Monday.
Activists published new photos of the massacre, showing dead children who suffocated to death. They stressed that hiding the truth is difficult, especially that the criminal committed the same crime dozens of times.
The United Stets, Greta Britain, and France launched missile strikes against military installations of the Assad regime in response to the April 7 attack on Douma. The Syrian Coalition said that the Assad regime must be held accountable for all its crimes against the Syrian people, not just for the ones involving the use of chemical weapons.
The Coalition stressed that the missile strikes against the Assad regime were a necessary action to degrade the military capabilities that the Assad regime was using to bomb Syrian cities and towns with various types of banned weapons, including chemical ones. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
