Chemical attack probe aided by presence of victims in Turkey
BEIRUT — Investigators have rushed to Turkey to examine survivors of the chemical attack in neighbouring Syria and collect samples that could reveal the nature of the toxins, the means of delivery and, ultimately, who was responsible for one of the war’s most disturbing atrocities.
The victims’ presence in Turkey offers a way around a problem that has bedeviled past investigations and sown confusion for policymakers: limited access to attack sites. The byproducts of the nerve agents suspected in Tuesday’s attack can remain in the bloodstream long after the effects have worn off.
“Whoever wants to find out the truth and the weapon that was used has enough evidence” in Turkey, said Dr. Osama Abo Elezz, a physician from Khan Sheikhoun, the opposition-held town where the chemical attack took place. “This has not happened before.”
But even with the heightened media attention and the anguish the attack has provoked in the highest offices in the U.S. and other Western capitals, the inspectors have been hamstrung by a thicket of rules and precautions that could frustrate even the most determined investigators.