By Vestnik Kavkaza
Since the end of last week, Syrian troops have carried out several offensives in the suburbs of Damascus. At the same time, the Syrian government agreed to the terms of international inspections of chemical weapons by a group of experts led by Swedish Professor Åke Selstrom. Experts have come to Syria for two weeks to study three alleged attacks by both the government forces and the opposition.
Orientalist Alexander Ignatenko and historian Marina Manpronova told VK about the impact of the commission on the progress of the conflict in Syria and the international community.
"The Syrian authorities, allowing the UN commission to stay and work in the territory of Syria, thus demonstrate that they have not applied these chemicals, if any, because there is different available data about the use of chemical weapons. The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad takes advantage of this”, Ignatenko said. “At one time the Turkish security forces and border guards detained a group of Syrian opposition bearing chemical weapons. They were sent to the territory of Syria. It is very likely that it will turn out that some mild forms of chemical weapons were used, and they were applied by the so-called armed opposition. Most likely, they were applied by Islamist groups and organizations that operate in Syria against all Syrians - both the regime of Bashar al-Assad and ordinary Syrian citizens, including those included in the opposition to Bashar al-Assad. "
Marina Manpronova from MGIMO finds that the commission "somehow even more encouraged the international community to stand by the position of the Russian Federation, which for the two years of fighting have always encouraged the conflicting parties to sit at the negotiating table. After all, there have been studies of these acts on the use of chemical weapons by Russian specialists, who have come to the conclusion that the bombs were used by terrorist organizations. If it is officially recognized by the world community, it will be a very good chance for the start of negotiations between the conflicting parties”.
