UN chief voices solidarity with OPCW inspectors in Syria

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday expressed solidarity with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a day after a convoy of its inspectors came under attack in central Syria, a UN spokesperson said.

"Earlier today, the secretary-general spoke by phone to the Director-General of the Organisation Prohibition of Chemical Weapon, Ahmet Uzumcu, to express his solidarity following the attack on the organisation's fact-finding team in Syria," Xinhua quoted Ban's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric as saying during the daily briefing.

"The secretary-general condemned these attacks and voiced his relief that no one was seriously injured in the attack," Dujarric said.

OPCW said in a statement Wednesday that the organization's inspection team has arrived in Damascus safely after a security incident Tuesday.

The team with experts and officials of the OPCW and the United Nations was en route to Kafr Zita as part of its mission to establish the facts surrounding allegations of use of chlorine in Syria.

The visit was subject to a rigorous security assessment and a local ceasefire had been carefully negotiated for the day with the government of Syria as well as with armed opposition groups in the area. According to the OPCW statement, the attack happened shortly after the team left government-controlled territory.