GENEVA - The opposition Syrian National Coalition yesterday (July 10) denied a Russian charge that rebel fighters fired a projectile laden with the nerve agent sarin at a suburb of Aleppo in March, saying United Nations inspectors should be allowed to investigate the attack.

Separately, Western diplomats said Russia blocked a draft UN Security Council resolution this week calling for a stalled UN chemical weapons investigation team to be allowed to visit Syria and to be permitted to conduct an “objective” inquiry.

The UN said in a statement that the head of the their chemical arms team, Mr Ake Sellstrom of Sweden, and disarmament chief Angela Kane have accepted an invitation from the Syrian government to discuss their investigation of alleged chemical attacks.

Russia, along with Iran, is Syria’s closest ally and chief arms supplier. The draft resolution echoed a recent statement by the Group of Eight (G8) developed nations including Russia.

“The Free Syrian Army strongly condemns all usage of chemical weapons against a civilian population and denies Russia’s allegations about the FSA using chemical weapons in Khan Al-Assal, Aleppo,” Mr Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the coalition, said in a statement.

“Only the Assad regime has the know-how, capability and willingness to use these weapons,” Mr Saleh said, referring to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

“The coalition and supreme military council have asked for the U.N. monitors to come to Syria to investigate the use of these weapons and the Assad regime refuses to allow them to do so,” he said.

Russia’s UN envoy, Mr Vitaly Churkin, on Tuesday said Russian scientific analysis strongly indicated a projectile containing sarin that hit Khan Al-Assal on March 19, killing 26 civilians and military personnel, was fired by rebels.

The government and rebels have blamed each other for that incident, as well numerous other alleged chemical attacks. Both sides deny using chemical weapons.

“The usage of chemical weapons is inconsistent with the guiding principles and goals of the Syrian revolution,” Mr Saleh said. “Targeting civilians indiscriminately to achieve political gains is a common characteristic of the Assad regime.”

The United States has cast doubt on the Russian analysis of the Khan Al-Assal incident and, along with France, called for full U.N. access to Syrian sites where chemical weapons use was suspected.

The UN says as many as 100,000 have died in the two-year civil war. REUTERS