A team of U.N. investigators has finished gathering samples and evidence related to a the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people in suburbs near Damascus last week and is packing up to leave, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday.
The team will be leaving Syria on Saturday, but will return later to investigate several other alleged poison gas attacks that have taken place in Syria during the country's 2-1/2 year old civil war, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
Earlier, the UN team of inspectors departed in three cars to a hospital
in a government-held area of central Damascus to visit doctors, a Reuters witness said.
The inspectors have spent the week
visiting rebel-held areas on the outskirts of Damascus following
reports of a chemical weapons attack last week that the opposition
blames on President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government accuses the
rebels of the chemical weapons attacks on civilians and soldiers.
Meanwhile, the White House plans to release an unclassified version of an
intelligence assessment of a chemical weapons attack last week in
Syria, a U.S. official said.
There were no immediate details on the time of the release of the report.
Early Friday protesters gathered in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. and
in Times Square, New York City, to protest against possible US action
in Syria.
Marchers held banners and posters, chanting slogans, and calling on US President Barack
Obama to not intervene in Syria.
For his part, US
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the Obama administration was
consulting with allies to "further develop the facts" on last week's
alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria, and options for a response.
Speaking
at a news conference in Manila, Hagel said the administration also
would continue to seek input from members of Congress on how the US
should respond to the deadly attack.
As for the British
Parliament's vote against British military action in Syria, Hagel said
London has strongly and publicly condemned Syria's alleged gas attacks
against civilians.
British Prime Minister David
Cameron lost a vote endorsing military action against Syria by 13 votes
Thursday, a stunning defeat that will almost guarantee that Britain
plays no direct role in any US attack on Bashar Assad's government.
This as, French President Francois Hollande said the British parliamentary
vote against taking military action in Syria would not affect France's
will to act to punish Bashar al-Assad's government for the apparent
chemical weapons attack on civilians.
Asked if France could take
action without Britain, Hollande replied: "Yes. Each country is
sovereign to participate or not in an operation. That is valid for
Britain as it is for France."
For his part, Russian President
Vladimir Putin's senior foreign policy adviser said on Friday that the
British parliament's refusal to authorize a potential strike on Syria
showed a growing understanding of the risks of military intervention in
the conflict.
He said he believed the vote on Thursday reflected the majority opinion in Europe as a whole, not just Britain.
As
for China, its Foreign Minister said in a phone call with his French
counterpart that determining the facts should be a precondition for
taking any action in Syria.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi told French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that it was important to determine not
only if chemical weapons were used but who used them.
The Foreign
Minister said the UN Security Council should not be pushed into any
action on Syria before inspectors have completed a probe into
allegations of chemical weapons use.
In remarks reported by the
official Xinhua news agency, Wang Yi told UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon in a telephone conversation that China fully supported an
independent and objective inspection free from outside pressure and
interference.
On another note, a Saudi military source said that Saudi Arabia, a supporter of the Syrian opposition, has raised its level of military alertness in anticipation of a possible Western strike in Syria.
The source added that Saudi Arabia's defense readiness has been raised to "two" from "five".
"One" is the highest level of alert.
The source said that other countries in the region, including Jordan, Turkey and Israel, also raised their level of military readiness.
Protests in Jordan, Turkey
Meanwhile, protesters marched in central Amman after Friday prayers to protest against a possible military strike against Syria.
The demonstrators chanted anti-US slogans and held banners and placards.
The protest was organized by leftist and communist opposition parties in Jordan.
This as scores took to the streets of Istanbul to demand Syrian President Bashar Assad step down and to protest against the military coup which removed Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi.
After attending Friday prayers, some 250 men, women and children marched in central Fatih, one of Istanbul's conservative neighborhoods.
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, has been critical of Assad's actions whilst supporting Egypt's ousted president, Mohammed Morsi.
REUTERS/AP/LBCI
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