UN weapons inspectors prepare to leave Syria

A U.N. team, that is scheduled to investigate an alleged chemical attack that killed hundreds last week in a Damascus suburb, leaves their hotel in a convoy, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Aug. 26, 2013. AP

UNITED NATIONS — United Nations inspectors have finished collecting samples from the site of the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria on Aug. 21.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Friday that the team is “now packing up” and preparing to leave for The Hague on Saturday, where its members will take samples to several laboratories in Europe.

The comments come as Washington and France seem to be preparing for a military strike on the Assad regime, which they blame for the purported attack.

Nesirky said the U.N. team also visited a government military hospital in Damascus on Friday, to look into separate allegations by the Syrian government that dozens of its soldiers were victims of a chemical attack