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Journalism of Courage
UN investigators must be allowed to visit sites of Wednesdays alleged chemical-weapon attack in Syria.
In the wake of grisly footage distributed by activists that appears to show the aftermath of an alleged chemical weapon attack in the Ghouta region east of Damascus,UN inspectors need permission to visit the site as soon as possible. Claims that government forces fired rockets dropping toxic agents in the small hours of Wednesday morning must also be verified. This is not the first allegation of chemical-weapon use in the Syrian civil war. If the oppositions figure of 1,000-plus casualties is correct,it would qualify as a massacre.
Bashar al-Assads government has denied its involvement and has called the footage fake. Western intelligence assessments,however,dont seem to agree that the rebels have access to chemical weapons,which Assads regime has large stockpiles of. Syrias neighbours,particularly Israel,fear these could also already be in the hands of Assads ally,the Lebanese Hezbollah. Any fallout of chemical weapon proliferation would be incalculably worse than the hitherto feared consequences of the conflict breaching Syrias borders.
One million children have been forced to flee Syria and two million have been internally displaced,even as the overall death toll has crossed 100,000. Yet,the international community has stood by. However,if intervention was deemed counter-productive in the beginning,it may be more so now,given the dominance of al-Qaeda affiliates among the rebels. The first option is still diplomacy,to compel Assad to allow the UN investigators to visit Wednesdays alleged attack sites immediately a difficult task,given the months it took the UN to get permission to visit the earlier sites of alleged chemical-weapon use.
