Snipers target UN inspectors in Syria

UN chemical weapons investigators have reached the site of an alleged poison gas attack in Syria after surviving a gun attack on their convoy by unidentified snipers. he convoy of six vehicles came under fire on Monday in the buffer zone between rebel and government areas near Damascus as it travelled to Mouadamiya and Ghouta, the sites of the suspected attack last Wednesday. 

"The first vehicle of the investigation team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said. No one was injured and a replacement vehicle was obtained, he added.

"They are technical and medical specialists. Their aim is to collect blood and soil samples. They can also collect witness testimony. They will then analyse the samples, along with evidence, to determine what happened."

However, he said that the inspectors' mandate was only to determine whether chemical agents were used - not who used them. 

Video footage posted online showed UN inspectors in Muadhamiya taking samples and talking to residents.

They went to a Red Crescent centre and spoke to doctors, opposition activists said.

Shortly after setting out from their hotel in Damascus, their cars came under fire "multiple times by unidentified snipers", according to a statement from the UN.

The inspectors later returned to their base in Damascus before setting out again.

The alleged chemical weapons attack on Wednesday killed 355 people and injured thousands, according to the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Western powers blame the Syrian regime, and say that potential evidence in the area has probably been destroyed by heavy government shelling over the past five days.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed the accusation as "an insult to common sense" and warned the US against military intervention. He also blamed the chemical attacks on the rebel groups fighting against the government forces.

"If someone is dreaming of making Syria a puppet of the West, then this will not happen," he told the Russian newspaper Izvestiya.

The 20-member UN inspection team has been in Syria since 18 August to look into three earlier suspected chemical attacks.

The experts intend to take soil, blood, urine and tissue samples for laboratory testing from the five locations on Monday and Tuesday but they are unlikely to apportion blame for any of the attacks.

A year ago, US President Barack Obama said the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would be "a red line" that could trigger US military action.

Washington has recently bolstered its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, and military leaders from the US, UK and their allies are meeting in Jordan.

But the UN Security Council remains divided, with China and Russia appearing unlikely to drop their objection to stricter sanctions on Mr Assad's government.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that diplomats should be cautious in dealing with the chemical weapons issue, and Moscow warned Western nations not to prejudge the outcome of the inspections.

Western politicians have begun to suggest taking action outside of the UN system.

On the diplomatic front, Francois Hollande, the French president, told his US counterpart Barack Obama on Sunday that he concluded that the Syrian regime was behind the attack.

"The two presidents agreed to stay in close contact to arrive at a joint response to this unprecedented aggression," Hollande's office said.

William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, has said that any evidence of a chemical attack may have been destroyed.

"The fact is that much of the evidence could have been destroyed by that artillery bombardment," he said on Sunday.

On Monday, the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that the West had no proof to back claims that the Syria regime used chemical weapons.

He warned: "Using force without the approval of the UN Security Council is a very grave violation of international law."

The US government has been under mounting pressure to act, with Obama having defined the use chemical weapons as a "red line' for Syria.