Russia, Syria not yet allowed OPCW team into Douma: UK embassy

THE HAGUE: Russia and Syria have not yet allowed a fact-finding mission from the world's chemical weapons watchdog to enter Douma to probe allegations of a gas poison attack, the British embassy to the Netherlands said Monday.

OPCW head Ahmet Uzumcu had briefed emergency talks about his team's deployment but "Russia & Syria have not yet allowed access to Douma. Unfettered access essential," the British delegation said in a Tweet.

British ambassador Peter Wilson also urged the meeting "to act to hold perpetrators to account", saying failure to do so "will only risk further barbaric use of chemical weapons, in Syria and beyond".