Syria says OPCW security team in Douma for assessment ahead of experts entry

DAMASCUS - Syria's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that a security team of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) entered Damascus' eastern Douma district a day earlier to assess the security situation ahead of the entry of the chemical weapons' experts.

The ministry said the entry of the security team came upon the request of the OPCW investigators, who arrived in Damascus last Saturday to look into allegations of chemical weapons use by the Syrian army in Douma ahead of its liberation from the rebels last week.

A day earlier, the state media outlets in Syria said the experts of the OPCW entered Douma, but the ministry's statement apparently comes to clarify that only a security detail of the team entered to assess the situation ahead of the entry of the actual investigators.

The arrival of the OPCW team comes as the United States and Western allies have already struck Syrian military positions over the allegations of the toxic gas attack in Douma on April 7.

Western powers have preceded the mission of the OPCW with a series of missile strikes, which US President Donald Trump described as targeting the chemical weapons capabilities of the Syrian regime.

While completely denying the accusations, the Syrian government stressed that it would cooperate and facilitate the work of the OPCW team to expose the reality in Douma, which has become back under the government control after last week's rebel evacuation to rebel-held areas in northern Syria.