United Nations chemical weapons inspectors visit Syria hospital

On Friday, at the hospital in Mazzeh district situated in western part of the Syrian capital, the inspectors met soldiers affected by what the government describes as a militant chemical attack.

The team of chemical weapons experts is expected to leave Syria on Saturday morning in order to prepare a report on the deadly attack for the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The visit came after another group of UN experts left Damascus for Geneva earlier in the day.

The UN mission has not visited all the alleged chemical attack sites. Several sites named by the government are yet to be investigated.

Russia has urged the UN to cover all the suspected sites before coming up with a result.

On August 21, the militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed that hundreds had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.

A number of Western and Arab countries have also accused Damascus of carrying out the attack.

However, the Syrian government has denied their allegations as baseless.

Since August 27, speculations have become stronger about the possibility of a military attack on Syria.

The UK parliament on Thursday voted against a motion by British Prime Minister David Cameron to authorize military action against Syria.

Washington says it is willing to carry out an attack against Syria without the approval of the UN or its allies.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the violence.

HK