Russia's U.N. envoy said on
Tuesday that Russian scientific analysis indicates a deadly projectile that hit
near the Syrian city of Aleppo on March 19 contained the nerve agent sarin and was
most likely fired by rebels.
The incident at Khan al-Assal in
the northern province of Aleppo killed more than two dozen people. Both the
government and rebels have blamed each other for what they say was an attack
involving chemical weapons. Both sides also deny using chemical weapons.
This as, Syria's
UN ambassador invited top international disarmament and weapons
inspectors to Damascus for talks with the country's Foreign Ministry on
investigating chemical weapons, but insisted Monday on limiting
inspections to one regime accusation of an attack by the rebels.
Syrian
Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari's government had previously asked for an
investigation of the alleged chemical weapons attack on March 19 in Khan
al-Assal, which it blamed on the rebels.
But Syrian President
Bashar Assad's regime has refused to allow a UN investigation team led
by Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom and top U.N.
disarmament official Angela Kane in to conduct a broader investigation
of other allegations raised by Britain, France and the United States.
When
asked Monday if Syria was now considering allowing investigations of
Western claims of other attacks, Ja'afari promptly answered, "No, you
wouldn't jump to this conclusion."
On another note, the United
Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for forces loyal to
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel fighters in Syria to put down
their weapons during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In a statement, Ban said Ramadan is one of the four months on the Islamic calendar during which fighting is supposed to cease.
In
this regard, the new president of the opposition Syrian National
Coalition, Ahmad Jarba, said on Sunday he was prepared to offer Assad's
forces a truce during the Muslim holy month.
Ban also called for the release of detainees by the government and opposition forces.
This
as, Egypt restricted the ability of Syrians to enter the country, with
officials citing reports that a large number of Syrians were backing the
Muslim Brotherhood, which is engaged in a bloody standoff over the
military's ouster of Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi.
The decision
dealt a blow to Syria's main Western-backed opposition group that is
leading the fight against President Bashar Assad from its headquarters
in Cairo.
Egyptian authorities began requiring Syrians to get
visas before arriving in the country, according to officials and
opposition figures, many of whom live in the Egyptian capital.
In
response, the Syrian National Coalition said it regretted any crimes
committed by Syrian nationals in Egypt and said Syrians "must not be
punished for individual criminal acts."
Separately, Germany's top
security official said dozens of young Germans have traveled to Syria
and may be being radicalized by Islamic extremist groups involved in the
country's civil war.
Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said 60 Germans are currently in Syria, news agency dpa reported.
He added: "Our fear is that they are being radicalized in training camps by organizations close to al-Qaida."
On the field:
Rebels
said on Tuesday foreign forces destroyed advanced Russian anti-ship
missiles in Syria last week- a disclosure that appeared to point to an
Israeli raid.
Qassem Saadeddine, spokesman for the Free Syrian
Army's Supreme Military Council, said a pre-dawn strike on Friday hit a
Syrian navy barracks at Safira, near the port of Latakia. He said that
the rebel forces' intelligence network had identified newly supplied
Yakhont missiles being stored there.
Rebels described huge blasts -
the ferocity of which, they said, was beyond the firepower available to
them but consistent with that of a modern military like Israel's.
On
another note, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad
Britain-based monitoring group, said central areas of Homs city were hit
by air strikes, mortar bombs and tank rounds on Tuesday.
Al-Khalidiya,
a northern district that links the outskirts of the city with the
center, was the focus of the violence and the 13th-century Khalid ibn
al-Walid mosque, a prominent central landmark, had been hit.
It
also said the Krak de Chevaliers crusader castle, once a popular tourist
site in Homs province, was the scene of clashes on Tuesday.
For
more than two years, Assad's forces and rebels determined to oust him
have been locked in a conflict that has escalated into an increasingly
sectarian civil war. The United Nations estimates that at least 90,000
people have died since the uprising began in March 2011.
REUTERS/AP
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