UNITED NATIONS (AA) - The UN team that spent a fortnight in Syria investigating claims of chemical weapons use will brief UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on preliminary information about their findings, UN press office said.
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky will hold a media conference on Sunday following a scheduled telephone call between Ban and Dr. Ake Sellstrom, who heads the UN chemical weapons investigation team.
After long-winded efforts to get permission from the Syrian officials, the UN team examined for four days the area of a gas attack that killed 1,429 people on August 21. Its members left the country on Saturday and are now in The Hague, Netherlands, where their findings will be sent to laboratories around Europe for analysis.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons based in The Hague says examination of evidence could take up to three weeks.
- Attack timing idea "grotesque"
UN Spokesperson Nesirky said he found it "grotesque" that the UN team's departure indicated the approaching of a military strike.
"I've seen all kinds of reporting suggesting that the departure of the chemical weapons team somehow opens a window for military action of some kind,'' he said.
"Frankly, that is grotesque, and it's an affront to the more than 1,000 staff, UN staff, who are on the ground in Syria delivering humanitarian aid and who will continue to deliver critical aid."
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