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　内戦状態が続くシリアの反体制派の統一組織「シリア国民連合」などは、首都ダマスカス郊外で21日未明、化学兵器が積まれたロケット弾が着弾し、神経ガスにより住民ら1,300人以上が死亡したと発表しました。

　反体制派は、化学兵器を使用したのは政府軍だとして批判していますが、アサド政権側は、使用を完全否定しています。

　人権活動家らがインターネット上で公開した、化学兵器使用による被害を写したとされる動画は、世界中に衝撃を与え、各地で非難の声を生んでいます。

　動画の中には、ガスを吸い込んだとみられる人々が苦しむ姿や、地面に並べられた多数の遺体が写されています。また別の動画には、医師が子どもたちの蘇生を試みたり、他の人々が人工呼吸を受ける様子が捉えられています。

　政権側であるシリア政府は化学兵器の使用を否定。　アサド政権のシリア軍は国営テレビで、毒ガス兵器の使用を「全くのうそ」と全面的に否定する声明を発表しています。



　国連のエリアソン副事務総長は、現時点で化学兵器が使用されたかどうかは確認できていないとしたうえで、「すでにシリアに入っている国連の調査団が現場で調査を行えるよう、シリア政府に働きかけていく」と述べ、アサド政権に協力を求めていく姿勢を示していました。

　そして国連は22日、政権側に対し、国連の専門家による調査を許可するよう正式に要請しました。また潘基文（パン・キムン）国連事務総長は、同国への特使派遣も決定しました。

　しかし、国連の調査団が新たに今回のケースを調査することに対しては、シリア政府に加え、アサド政権を擁護してきたロシアも消極的とみられ、真相が明らかになるかは不透明な状況です。

－－－－－－－ロイター　2013年 08月 23日 08:52 JST－－－－－－－－
シリア化学兵器疑惑で国連が現地入り要請、米情報機関も独自調査へ

［ベイルート／パリ　２２日　ロイター］ - 内戦が続くシリアの首都ダマスカス近郊で化学兵器が使用されたとの疑惑について、国連の潘基文事務総長は２２日、既にダマスカスに滞在する国連調査団の現地調査をシリア政府が直ちに認めるべきだと強く要請した。

潘事務総長は、軍縮担当のケイン上級代表をシリアに派遣する考えを示し、同国政府から迅速で前向きな回答を期待すると述べた。

一方、オバマ米大統領は情報機関に対し、多くの死者が出た原因を早急に調査するよう指示。ただ、国務省のサキ報道官は、現時点で化学兵器が使用されたと結論付けることはできないと語った。

反体制派側によると、２１日未明に起きたこの攻撃では約５００人が死亡。死者数は１０００人以上に上るとの情報もある。

これについて、シリア政府は化学兵器の使用を否定しており、国連の調査要請には回答を示していない。

U.N. presses Syria to allow gas attack inspection

By Erika Solomon and John Irish
BEIRUT/PARIS | Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:53pm EDT

(Reuters) -The United Nations demanded Syria give its chemical weapons experts immediate access on Thursday to rebel-held Damascus suburbs where poison gas appears to have killed hundreds just a few miles from the U.N. team's hotel.

There was no sign, however, that scientists would soon be taking samples at the scene of horrors that have drawn comparison with the gassing of thousands of Iraqi Kurds at Halabja in 1988.

The administration of President Barack Obama said it was "appalled" by the death reports.

A U.S. official familiar with initial intelligence assessments said the attack appeared to be the work of the Assad government. It was "the regime acting as a regime," the official said. But the Obama administration made clear that any response would await confirmation of a chemical attack and its origin.

Assad's opponents gave death tolls from 500 to well over 1,000 and said more bodies were being found in the wake of Wednesday's mysterious pre-dawn killer fumes, which the Syrian government insists were not its doing.

Images, including some by freelance photographers supplied to Reuters, showed scores of bodies laid out on floors with no visible signs of injury. Some had foam at the nose and mouth.

Talk, notably from France and Britain, of a forceful foreign response remains unlikely to be translated into rapid, concerted action given division between the West and Russia at Wednesday's U.N. Security Council meeting, and caution from Washington on Thursday.

Moscow has said rebels may have released gas to discredit Assad and urged him to agree to a U.N. inspection. On Wednesday, Russian objections to Western pressure on Syria saw the Security Council merely call in vague terms for "clarity" - a position increasingly frustrated Syrian rebels described as "shameful".

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Syria must let the U.N. team already in Damascus investigate "without delay". He said he would send a top U.N. disarmament official, Angela Kane, to lobby the Syrian government in person.

Ban said he expected a swift, positive answer.

Obama has directed U.S. intelligence agencies to urgently help establish what caused the deaths, a State Department spokeswoman said while acknowledging it may be difficult given the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Syria.

"At this time, right now, we are unable to conclusively determine CW (chemical weapons) use," the State Department's Jen Psaki told reporters. "We are doing everything possible in our power to nail down the facts," she added.

Another U.S. official said intelligence agencies were not given a deadline and would take the time needed to "reach a conclusion with confidence."

Former weapons investigators say every hour matters.

"The longer it takes, the easier it is for anybody who has used it to try to cover up," said Demetrius Perricos, who headed the U.N.'s team of weapons inspectors in Iraq in the 2000s.

Syria is one of just a handful of countries that are not parties to the international treaty that bans chemical weapons, and Western nations believe it has caches of undeclared mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents.

Syria's government, which has accused the rebels of using chemical weapons in the past, offered no public response to calls for wider U.N. access.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said world powers must respond with force if allegations that Syria's government was responsible for the deadliest chemical attack on civilians in a quarter-century prove true. But even Fabius stressed there was no question of sending in troops on the ground.

Britain, too, said no option should be ruled out "that might save innocent lives in Syria". But European forces can do little without U.S. help, and Washington shows little appetite for war.

Syrian officials have called allegations against their forces "illogical and fabricated". They point to the timing of the attack, days after U.N. inspectors arrived after months of argument, and to previous assurances that, if they possessed chemical weapons, they would never use them against Syrians.

After months of negotiating with Assad's government to let inspectors into Syria, a U.N. team arrived in Damascus four days ago. Their task is to check on the presence, but not the sources, of chemical weapons that are alleged to have been released in three specific, small incidents several months ago.

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