Syria asks UN to probe chemical weapon use by 'rebels'/NATO mercs

A Syrian victim who suffered an alleged chemical attack at Khan al-Assal village according to SANA, receives treatment by doctors, at a hospital in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday March 19, 2013. (SANA)

Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters Wednesday morning that he had just requested Ban on behalf of the government "to form a specialized, independent and neutral technical mission to investigate the use by the terrorist groups operating in Syria of chemical weapons yesterday against civilians in the town of Khan al-Assad in Aleppo." The Syrian government refers to the rebels as "terrorists."

Ja'afari said Syria asked the secretary-general for assistance "in a sign of good faith, good will, good intentions" to the international community, international public opinion and the Syrian people.

He recalled that the Syrian government had sent a letter to the secretary-general and the UN Security Council in December warning of the possible use of chemical weapons and chemicals by rebel groups who would then accuse the government of a chemical weapons attack.

"The Syrian government, if it has such weapons, will never use it against its own population," Ja'afari said.

Syria is raising concern in two letters to the United Nations that the United States may be attempting to frame it for the use of chemical weapons, Syrian state-run media reported Monday.

"The U.S. administration has consistently worked over the past year to launch a campaign of allegations on the possibility that Syria could use chemical weapons during the current crisis"

"What raises concerns about this news circulated by the media is our serious fear that some of the countries backing terrorism and terrorists might provide the armed terrorist groups with chemical weapons and claim that it was the Syrian government that used the weapons"

He stressed that Syria a party to most UN conventions on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and had proposed a Security Council resolution in 2003 when it was a council member that would have required the Mideast to be free of all weapons of mass destruction. He said it was blocked by the threatened veto of an "influential member," an apparent reference to the United States, Israel's closest ally.