Syria Direct: News Update 8-25-2013

* Opposition sources say thousands of refugees fleeing Damascus neighborhoods that were hit by chemical weapons last week are stuck near the Jordanian border because of regime-rebel clashes in Dara province.

* UN representative Angela Cain is in Damascus to negotiate the mission of the chemical weapons investigators. Doctors without Borders, meanwhile, says 355 Syrians are confirmed dead from gas-related symptoms at hospitals where its volunteers work in Damascus.

* “The world is demanding an independent investigation immediately,” tweets Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice. Iranian Foreign Ministry says that “provocative statements by the American government and sending in the US navy will not help solve the problem, only intensify the danger.”

* Syrian National Coalition condemns the two explosions Tripoli, Lebanon. and asks Lebanese parties to demonstrate restraint and ignore calls to escalate coming from the Assad regime and its allies.

* The “FSA does not have chemical weapons,” says General Salim Idris at Istanbul press conference with Ahmad Jarba. “There is evidence that the Syrian government planned to do this as a response to the attack targeting Bashar Assad’s motorcade earlier this month,” Idriss said.