U.N. inspectors have reached a Damascus suburb to meet victims of suspected chemical weapon attacks, after the Syrian government accepted international demands to grant access to the team.
Syrian state television said Monday that troops escorted the inspectors to the southwestern suburb of Moadamiyeh, one of several rebel-held districts where the August 21st attacks happened.
Syrian opposition activists said the U.N. team visited a makeshift hospital in Moadamiyeh to speak with survivors of the attacks and take samples.
Rebels and the Syrian government have blamed each other for the killings of hundreds of civilians in the incidents.
Western powers say they believe forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were responsible. Leaders of the United States, Britain and France have been discussing what action to take in response, raising the prospect of Western military intervention in Syria's two-year conflict.
The foreign minister of Russia, a key Assad ally, said Western powers "cannot produce any evidence" that the Syrian government committed the alleged chemical attack.