International experts from the global agency for the monitoring of chemical weapons have arrived at the site of a suspected April 7 gas attack in the Syrian town of Douma, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Douma, near the capital, Damascus, in the morning on April 21, the ministry said in a statement.
"The security of the OPCW has been guaranteed not only by the Syrian side but also by the Russian command in Syria,” the statement said.
The inspectors have been in Syria for a week but had been unsuccessful in their attempts to travel to the site.
The United States, France, and Britain blame the Syrian government for the attack and struck suspected Syrian chemical-weapons facilities one week later.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia denied responsibility for the attack that according to local activists and medical workers killed dozens of people.
Images that emerged in the hours after the attack showed lifeless bodies collapsed in crowded rooms, some with foam around their noses and mouths.
Douma was at the time under rebel control and facing a ferocious assault by Syrian government forces. Rebels surrendered the town days after the alleged gas attack.
