Efforts by international experts to examine the scene of a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria have been delayed again after a UN risk assessment team came under fire. Shots were fired when a security team visited Douma on Tuesday to prepare for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inspectors’ visit.
Nobody was injured and the team returned to the capital, Damascus.
The UN security detail set out to perform reconnaissance in Douma ahead of the arrival of the actual inspectors, who were scheduled to go in on Wednesday.
As OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu explained in a statement, the two suspected attack sites are under the control of the Russian military police as part of an agreement with the rebels to keep out the Syrian military.
When the security team arrived at the first site, a large crowd gathered and the UN decided to withdraw.
At the second site, “the team came under small arms fire and an explosive was detonated,” said Mr Uzumcu.
