Earlier, Russia and Syria cited “pending security issues” for restricting the investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons from visiting the alleged chemical attack site in Douma.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia have accused Israel of carrying out deadly air strikes at the Tiyas airbase east of the city of Homs, which killed at least 14 people on Monday.
Two separate offensives in Syria’s eastern Ghouta and the northern town of Afrin have driven nearly 50,000 people out of their homes in recent days, taking the tally of internally displaced civilians to more than six million.
An unreleased report by a panel of experts overseeing sanctions against N. Korea has accused the Asian state of sending over 40 banned items to Syria’s missile and chemical weapon factories in the last five years.
A five-hour “humanitarian pause,” backed by Russia, came into effect in Syria’s eastern Ghouta on Tuesday, to let civilians leave the rebel-held suburb crippled by a fierce spell of bombardment over the last 10 days.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the warring sides in Syria’s rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta to implement a 30-day ceasefire amid claims that the Damascus suburb came under “chlorine gas attack.”
The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on a draft resolution calling for a 30-day truce across Syria on Friday as fierce bombing continues to “systematically annihilate” civilian healthcare facilities in eastern Ghouta.
The U.N. called for an immediate end to the “senseless human suffering” in Syria as more than 100 civilians were killed in Eastern Ghouta following air raids, rocket strikes and shelling carried out by pro-government forces.
More than 100 pro-government Syrian fighters were killed in the eastern part of the country after the U.S. launched counter airstrikes in the region following an attack on its allied Syrian Democratic Forces.
