UN inspectors visit Damascus suburb hospital searching for chemical evidence
Syria's 3-year civil war escalated Monday to the highest international levels yet as Russia warned of the risks of U.S. military intervention, U.N. weapons inspectors reached areas where chemical weapons were thought to have been used, and President Barack Obama considered options as polls show an American public wary of involvement.
Recent reports and video documentation of apparent chemical weapons use have been the trigger. Whether the weapons, widely banned by international treaty, were used by Bashar Assad's government or by Syrian rebel forces continues to be a point of contention, though Western governments have insisted their use would constitute the critical incentive for intervention in the war.
In this first video, at the top of the page, U.N. inspectors reportedly are shown visiting a hospital in the Moadamyeh suburb of Damascus on Monday to interview doctors who treated victims of the alleged Aug. 21 chemical attack. The video was uploaded by a Moadamyeh-based activist and represents some of the first to be seen of U.N. inspectors working in the country.
The inspectors have found themselves in a dangerous situation. The United Nations reported Monday that a sniper shot at one U.N. vehicle, though no one was reported injured. The second video, uploaded to YouTube by the rebel brigade of Abu Dhar al-Ghafari, is described as showing mortar strikes on the air force intelligence branch in central Damascus. Syrian state media said six people were injured in the mortar attack, with as least six strikes in different regions of the capital city. Some mortar strikes hit near the hotel where U.N. inspectors are reported to be staying.
The third video, shot by the U.N.'s refugee agency, shows the continued exodus of displaced people from Syria across the border into northern Iraq. The man interviewed in the video, Aly Omar, a refugee from Syria speaking in Kurdish, says the following, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees: “My health conditions are really bad, I am very sick. Today I was very hungry and UNHCR provided me with food and water. My wife is also very old and sick, and we cannot go to the distribution areas. UNHCR also took me to the clinic where I received these medicines.”
