SyriaUN withdraws inspectors from Syria ahead of schedule

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has instructed the UN weapons inspectors investigating last Wednesday’s chemical weapons attack to leave Syria by Saturday, one day ahead of schedule.

The announcement confirmed what was already known, that a U.S.– or U.S.-led – series of missile attacks and air strikes against military targets in Syria is imminent.

The Guardian notes that under an agreement with the Syrian government, the UN team had until the end of Sunday to complete its investigation. If they leave a day early, they will not be able to inspect three other sites where the Syrian military is suspected of carrying out chemical attacks on civilians in March.

Observers note that the withdrawal of UN inspectors in the face of an imminent military campaign is reminiscent of other instances of early departures of UN weapons inspectors from Iraq in December 1998. The Clinton administration tipped the inspectors off that missile strikes against Saddam Hussein’s regime were imminent.

The UN secretary general said the inspectors would report to him as soon as they left the country, although it is not clear whether such an early report is possible without laboratory analysis of the samples the inspectors have collected.

In any event, sarin gas – the chemical likely used in the attack — evaporates within hours. The inspectors were staying at a Damascus hotel, 20-minute car ride from the site of the chemical attack, but the Syrian government blocked access to the site for four days, using these four days for continuous shelling of the site with incendiary munitions which probably burned whatever evidence which did not evaporate.