The United Nations and Syria said Saturday that they had reached an agreement on what they called the "way forward" for verifying the alleged use of chemical weapons in the war-torn country. "The discussions were thorough and productive and led to an agreement on the way forward," the UN said in a statement without elaborating.
Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, provided the same information in a joint statement with the Foreign Ministry. The accord followed talks in Damascus this week between two UN envoys and Syrian government officials. Ake Sellstrom, the chief inspector for the UN investigative team, and Angela Kane, the UN high representative for disarmament, visited Syria Wednesday and Thursday to negotiate the terms of a possible investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in the country.
The UN has demanded open access to 13 locations in Syria where chemical weapons were purportedly used in the 28-month conflict. The Syrian government has reportedly insisted the UN team only investigate its claim that opposition rebels used chemical weapons in March in Khan al-Assal, a town in the northern province of Aleppo. SANA reported that rebels have killed 123 people, most of them "unarmed civilians," in Khan al-Assal over the past week.
The report said a group called Ansar al-Khilafa Brigade had "admitted committing the terrorist massacre" and to dumping the bodies in a mass grave on the outskirts of the town. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights pro-opposition watchdog, told dpa that more than 150 soldiers were killed on Monday and Tuesday in and around the southern part of town. The number included 51 soldiers who had been executed, he said.
In March, 25 people were killed and 110 injured when a rocket, reportedly containing chemicals, was launched in Khan al-Assal. Both the rebels and the government deny using chemical weapons during conflict. The UN estimates that 100,000 people have been killed in the 28-month conflict.
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