Syrian regime asks UN to investigate chemical weapons usage

Syrian regime asked for an independent technical committee to investigate the claims about Syrian opposition's usage of chemical weapons in the northern part of the country. Bashar al-Jafari, Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), said that he had asked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for an independent committee to be appointed to investigate the usage of chemical weapons towards the civilians by the Syrian opposition. Jafari claimed that even if the Syrian government possessed chemical weapons, it would not use them against its own nation. Martin Nesirky, the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said that he had seen Jafari's statements and had conveyed it to Ban Ki-moon but he could not make any comments as no official request had reached them. Nesirky stated that if there were chemical weapons inside the country the security of these weapons belonged to the Syrian government. Both the Syrian government and the opposition claim that the other party has used chemical weapons on the civilians. US Ambassador in Damascus Robert Ford had said that the US government did not have evidence that chemical weapons had been used in Syria.