Syria, under heavy international pressure, on Sunday agreed to a UN probe into an alleged chemical weapons attack, while Iran warned against US military intervention.
Visiting UN disarmament envoy Angela Kane struck an accord with the Syrian government for a probe, and a UN inspectors’ team that has been in Syria for a week will carry out the investigation in the Damascus area, where rebels claim regime forces unleashed chemical weapons causing over 1,300 deaths. Damascus has strongly denied this, and claimed that the rebels were to blame.
US President Barack Obama had said a year ago that if the Syrian regime used chemical weapons, it would be a “red line” that could trigger Western intervention. On Sunday, the Iran military warned that “if the US crosses this red line, there will be harsh consequences for the White House”.