Russia blocks bid to briefly extend Syria chemical weapons inquiry

Russia blocks bid to briefly extend Syria chemical weapons inquiry

BRENDAN MCDERMID

The mandate for the joint inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which was unanimously created by the 15-member Security Council in 2015, ends on Friday.

Syrian ally Russia has now cast 11 vetoes on possible Security Council action on Syria since the country's civil war began in 2011.

The U.N./OPCW investigation found that the Syrian government used the banned nerve agent sarin in an April 4 attack and has also used chlorine as a weapon several times. It blamed Islamic State militants for using mustard gas.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols)

TOP READS FROM THE FISCAL TIMES