Paris: A report by United Nations inspectors probing an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria will “probably” be published on Monday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
“It will say that there was a chemical massacre… There will certainly be indications” of the origins of the attack, Fabius told French radio on Thursday.
The inspectors left Syria on August 31 after collecting samples as part of their probe into a August 21 chemical weapons attack in a suburb of the Syrian capital.
The US and its allies have said the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad carried out the attack, while Damascus and its ally Russia have said rebels were responsible.
“Only the regime had the (chemical weapons) stocks, the (firing) vectors and the interest in doing it, so we can draw a conclusion from that,” Fabius said.
Commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s contention that rebel forces had carried out the attack, Fabius said: “That is not the truth. This is a version the Russians have been putting forward for a long time.(Putin) is playing his game.” (AFP)
Chile marks 40th anniversary of General Augusto Pinochet’s coup
SANTIAGO: President Sebastian Pinera marked the 40th anniversary of the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende on Wednesday by urging Chileans to heal from — but never forget — the events of September 11, 1973, that launched a bloody 17-year dictatorship.
That day, fighter jets unleashed an attack on the La Moneda presidential palace, and tanks and soldiers surrounded the building as it burst into flames. Allende, then the democratically elected president, committed suicide rather than surrender to the coup plotters led by General Augusto Pinochet.
“After 40 years, the time has come not to forget but rather to overcome the traumas of the past,” said Pinera, Chile’s first right-of-centre president since the country’s return to democracy in 1990.
Allende’s family, sympathizers and former members of his personal guard later held a minute of silence in his memory at a statue of the late Marxist leader outside the presidential palace, which is engraved with his last words: “I have faith in Chile and its destiny.”
“We remember this honourable man, this social fighter, who planted hope and dreams in Chile,” his daughter, Senator Isabel Allende, said at the event. (Agencies)