Russia Urges Calm; Syrian Government Greenlights UN Chemical Weapons Probe

Three quick updates on this rapidly evolving situation in Syria: 

Russia Urges Calm, But U.S. Says Syria Chemical Weapon Probe Too Late

The US believes the Syrian regime’s allowing of a UN chemical weapons inspection team to probe the site of an alleged attack is too little too late, even as Moscow has urged Washington and its allies to await the team’s findings before launching military action.

Moscow on Sunday night welcomed Syria’s decision to allow international experts to examine the area in a Damascus suburb where at least 100 people died in the suspected attack last week. Syrian and UN officials are working to finalize the timing of the visit.

However, a senior US official said the White House believes the Syrian government had denied the UN investigative team immediate access to the site in order to give the evidence of the attack time to degrade.

The Obama administration official said a belated decision to grant access to the UN team would be considered “too late to be credible.”

“At this juncture, any belated decision by the regime to grant access to the UN team would be considered too late to be credible, including because the evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime’s persistent shelling and other intentional actions over the last five days,” the official told the Reuters news agency.

Washington and a number of Western European countries appear to be moving toward a decision to launch military action against the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Republican Sen. Bob Corker called Sunday for the US to respond in a “surgical and proportional way, something that gets their attention.” The Tennessee lawmaker said conversations with administration officials led him to believe US president Barack Obama would approach Congress for authorization to launch a strike after the summer recess next month.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said however that all countries should wait for the results of the investigation and he encouraged other countries to “show prudence and avoid tragic mistakes” by rushing to a conclusion about the incident.

“Our American and European partners must understand what catastrophic consequences this kind of politics would have for the region, for the Arab and Islamic world as a whole,” Lukashevich said, advising the US and its allies against taking a “gamble” and using unilateral force in Syria.

Syrian Government Greenlights Un Chemical Weapons Probe

Syria has given the “green light” for UN experts to visit the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb, state TV reports, citing the Foreign Ministry.

"An agreement was concluded today (Sunday) in Damascus between the Syrian government and the United Nations during the visit of the UN high representative for disarmament, Angela Kane, to allow the UN team led by professor Aake Sellstroem to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use in Damascus province," a ministry statement said.

The agreement "is effective immediately".  

The UN said its chemical weapons experts will start probing the site in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta as early as Monday. 

Syrian authorities pledge to impose a ceasefire during the UN team inspection.  

Russia has welcomed the move but has called on all the sides, “trying to influence the results of the investigation in advance”, not to “make tragic mistakes”. 

Washington is not satisfied with the agreement, saying that Syria’s offer to allow UN inspectors access to the attack site was “too late to be credible”. 

"If the Syrian government had nothing to hide and wanted to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons in this incident, it would have ceased its attacks on the area and granted immediate access to the UN— five days ago," a senior administration official said.

France also said on Sunday there can be “no doubt” that it’s the Assad regime, which is behind the alleged chemical weapons use near Damascus.  

And this from Zerohedge, which is interesting because the extensive coverage of this situation represents a departure from the usual financial updates given on that site:

Syria To Allow Inspection Of Alleged Chemical Weapons Attack

Moments ago, Syria relented to the main gating condition that would prevent an all out escalation, and as Russia urged it to, has permitted an inspection of last Wednesday's alleged chemical weapons attack by UN inspectors. The WSJ reports that "Syria would allow United Nations inspectors currently present in Damascus immediate access to areas around the capital where the opposition accused the regime of using chemical weapons against fighters and civilians five days ago. A presenter on Syrian state television reading a statement attributed to an unnamed official at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the agreement was reached after a meeting between Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and Angela Kane, the U.N. disarmament chief, who arrived in Damascus on Saturday."

The statement said the date and timing of the visit would be coordinated between the U.N. team led by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom and the Syrian government.

"The foreign minister affirmed Syria's desire to cooperate with the team of inspectors to unmask the falsehood of the allegations by terrorist groups that Syrian forces used chemical weapons in the eastern Ghouta," it added, referring to the eastern suburbs of Damascus and using the government's term for the rebels battling the regime.

Of course, since demand for said inspection was just a strawman, as the last time the UN inspected a "certain" chemical weapons attack by Assad it found "rebels may have used sarin" instead, and the US was absolutely certain Syria would not relent to an inspection thus allowing a full scale military attack, the US is now downplaying compliance with this key demand, by saying "it is too little too late."

And so, once again, the question boils down to what does Russia do when it reports, correctly, to the international community that Syria has complied with the key condition that would otherwise precede the US' launch of cruise missiles in direction Damascus when it starts operation "Boost US Budget Deficit."