Security Council permanent members prepared a provisional text for a possible draft resolution while UN chemical weapons inspectors returned Wednesday to Syria to complete their investigations, United Nations officials told dpa.
In New York, the Security Council's five veto powers seemed to agree on the text of a possible draft resolution on chemical weapons in Syria, which might be presented to the Security Council as early as Friday, a UN diplomat told dpa.
The UN diplomatic source said the draft follows the framework agreed by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
In Syria, the six-member team led by Swedish expert Ake Sellstrom was expected to probe three instances of alleged chemical weapons use, including a March attack in Khan al-Assal in northern Aleppo province.
The investigators were to meet with Syrian officials to discuss logistics for their new mission, a UN source said on condition of anonymity.
The inspectors have determined that chemical weapons were used in an August 21 attack near Damascus that killed hundreds and which the United States and its allies blame on the Syrian government.
The incident prompted the US to threaten military strikes against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
A US-Russian deal, reached this month to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal by mid-2014, staved off military action.