UN source: OPCW experts unlikely to enter Douma on Wednesday

On April 17, 2018, a United Nations security team entered the Syrian town of Douma to determine whether inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) could safely deploy. The OPCW team had been in the country since the previous Saturday but had not yet been granted access to the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack.

Syrian activists reported that more than 40 people were killed in the suspected attack. In response, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France launched missile strikes against several targets in Syria. Kenneth Ward, the United States ambassador to the OPCW, expressed concern that the delay of nearly two weeks would allow evidence at the site to be tampered with before inspectors could conduct their investigation.

During a government-organized visit, survivors in Douma described being hit by gas, and hospital doctors reported treating patients for symptoms of chlorine gas poisoning. The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission is tasked solely with determining whether a chemical weapon was used and identifying its type, rather than establishing culpability.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari stated that the security team’s entry was meant to assess whether the experts could deploy. The security situation remained uncertain, following an incident where Syrian air defenses fired missiles in what a military source later described as a false alarm over the western city of Homs.