The United States said on Thursday that while there were no signs that the Syrian government was preparing to launch a chemical weapons attack, they could still launch limited assaults in the future.
“They do retain a residual capability. It is probably spread throughout the country at a variety of sites,” said Lt Gen Kenneth McKenzie, joint staff director at the Pentagon.
“I would not rule that out. However, as they contemplate the dynamics of conducting those attacks, they have got to look over their shoulder and be worried that we’re looking at them and we’ll have the ability to strike them again, should it be necessary.
The US, France and Britain launched strikes on Syrian chemical weapons plants on April 14 after a chemical weapons attack in the rebel-held town of Douma on April 7 that killed scores of civilians, according to rescuers and activists.
Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were still not able to reach the scene, 12 days after the suspected attack.
A UN spokesman said on Thursday that discussions were taking place in Syria’s capital with all key parties on security arrangements for inspectors from the UN chemical weapons watchdog to visit Douma.
Stephane Dujarric said at the UN headquarters that “due to the volatility” of the situation in Douma the UN did not want “to telegraph” when a security team would return to to see if conditions were safe for the inspectors to visit.
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Read more:
There's only one winner from missile strikes in Damascus
Syria’s chemical attacks: A timeline of the war's confirmed cases
US delays Russia sanctions and floats new UN draft resolution on Syria
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A UN team touring the sites of the attack on Tuesday was shot at and subjected to a blast, but returned safely to Damascus, Mr Dujarric said.
Amid heightened concerns about Syria’s chemical weapons, three Belgian companies are set to be prosecuted for exporting chemicals to Syria, including a common substance that can also be used in the production of sarin nerve gas.
The case is due to commence on May 15 and will focus on the export of chemical substances between 2014 and 2016 to Lebanon and Syria.
“The companies had no export licence for these products,” a spokesman for the court said, referring to chemical group AAE Chemie and two handling agents, Danmar Logistics and Anex Customs.
The companies said they were unaware of the licence requirements they were claimed to have lacked.
Widely used as an industrial solvent and also in some medical products, isopropanol, or rubbing alcohol, is one of two key ingredients for sarin. Since 2013, companies need a licence to export chemicals to Syria.
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons, including sarin, against his citizens.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Syrian rebels in a town north-east of Damascus handed in their weapons and boarded buses to leave under an evacuation deal, state media reported on Thursday.
Fighters were to relocate with their families to opposition-held areas in northern Syria, effectively surrendering their town of Dumayr to the Syrian government.
The departure was likely to involve 1,500 fighters from the Jaish Al Islam rebel faction with 3,500 of their family members, said the state-run Sana news agency.
Their destination was Jarablus, a town under shared Turkish and Syrian opposition control near the Syria-Turkey border.
Dumayr, in the Qalamoun mountains, is minutes away from the Eastern Ghouta region, a former rebel enclave that came under full government control last week after a driving offensive that culminated in the chemical weapons attack.
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Read more:
Life in the slow lane of isolated Aleppo
An eerie silence prevails in Assad's 'reconstructed' Homs
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pakistan Test squad
Azhar Ali (capt), Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari
The five pillars of Islam
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
THE CARD
2pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
2.30pm: Handicap Dh 76,000 (D) 1,400m
3pm: Handicap Dh 64,000 (D) 1,200m
3.30pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh 100,000 (D) 1,000m
4pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (D) 1,000m
4.30pm: Handicap 64,000 (D) 1,950m
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Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
The five pillars of Islam
Brief scores:
Toss: Northern Warriors, elected to field first
Bengal Tigers 130-1 (10 ov)
Roy 60 not out, Rutherford 47 not out
Northern Warriors 94-7 (10 ov)
Simmons 44; Yamin 4-4
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Company%C2%A0profile
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