UN talks with Syria on chemical arms at impasse

         Discussions between the United Nations and Syrian President Bashar Assad's government on a possible investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria have reached an impasse, UN diplomats said on Wednesday. Syria and the United Nations have been exchanging letters for weeks but the two sides are far from agreement on how the investigation should be run, diplomats said on condition of anonymity. Syria has asked the United Nations only to investigate what it says was a rebel chemical attack near Aleppo last month. The opposition has blamed President Bashar Assad's forces for that strike and also wants the UN team to look into other alleged chemical attacks by the government. There have been three alleged chemical weapons attacks - the one near Aleppo and another near Damascus, both in March, and one in Homs in December. The rebels and Assad's government blame each other for all of them. So far, the Syrians are refusing to let inspectors go anywhere but Aleppo, while the United Nations is insisting that the team goes to both Aleppo and Homs. France and Britain wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month saying the mission should look into all three cases. The Syrian Foreign Ministry restated that position in a news release on Monday, saying the UN request to go anywhere in Syria where chemical weapons may have been used was not in keeping with the Syrian government's original request. In an April 6 letter from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem to Ban, obtained by Reuters, Assad's government said the inspectors should go first to Aleppo and if they are seen to be impartial, the possibility of visiting Homs could be discussed. "After the mission completes its work, and ascertaining its honesty and neutrality and the credibility of its work away from politicization, it may be possible to look into the Homs claims," the letter said. Moualem also complained about the leak of previous letters exchanged between Syria and the United Nations to Reuters, saying it "left the impression of a lack of seriousness on the part of the (UN) secretariat on cooperation in good faith." The United Nations said it was studying a recent Syrian letter, although it was not immediately clear if that letter was Moualem's or a more recent one.