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Australia urges Syria to allow inspections

NNA - Indications "point strongly" to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday as he urged Damascus to allow U.N. inspectors access to investigate.


Rudd said following reports that more than 350 people had died from possible chemical weapons near Damascus last week, it was up to the Syrian regime to prove it had no hand in it.


"The government's assessment is that the indications point strongly in the direction of the use of chemical weapons," Rudd told a press conference in Canberra.


"And indications also point in the direction of the Syrian regime.


"However, definitive conclusions on this await final and full access to the site by the U.N. weapons inspectors."


Rudd called on the regime of President Bashar Assad, which has rejected allegations it used chemical weapons, to allow inspectors in as a matter of urgency.


"The burden of proof now lies with the Syrian regime to establish their culpability or absence of culpability on this matter," Rudd said.


Rudd said Australia, which assumes the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council next month, would focus on "forging the consensus necessary with other members of the Security Council to support access by the weapons inspectors to this site".


"And secondly that if it is concluded that the Syrian regime is responsible for a chemical weapons attack, that we would then act in concert with other countries to determine an appropriate set of responses," he said.


Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reported that more than 350 people suffering "neurotoxic" symptoms had died following the reported attack near Damascus on Wednesday.


"For me, it is gut-wrenching to see this unfolding," Rudd said.


"The thought that these sorts of attacks could occur against unarmed civilians with the graphic and horrific deaths of children, women, men and families unfolding before us, it is like a medieval, barbaric scene rather than something we'd expect on our television sets in the year 2013.


"We do not want to see this happen again."


The U.S. and Britain have expressed "grave concern" about the reported use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.


A White House statement on Saturday said President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron would consult closely on the alleged attack, "as well as possible responses by the international community to the use of chemical weapons." - AFP


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