Syrians have their breakfast at a restaurant called Douma gate in the town of Douma, the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack, near Damascus, Syria. (Hassan Ammar, AP)Britain's UN ambassador said on Thursday the Russians and Syrians must uphold the promises they made to let chemical weapons inspectors visit the site of a suspected poisonous gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma – and "it should happen expeditiously". A UN security team that was supposed to give a green light for the inspectors to visit was shot at and subjected to a blast while touring the sites of the alleged attack in Douma on Tuesday. The visit has been put on hold and the UN says the security team must return to check out security measures before the fact-finding mission from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons can go to Douma. Russia said chemical weapons were not used in Douma, and recently accused rebels of staging the attack with support from Britain, an allegation that Pierce and other British officials strongly denied.

Source: News 24 April 20, 2018 14:15 UTC