A team of United Nations chemical weapons inspectors have returned to their hotel in Damascus after visiting one of the sites of an alleged poison gas attack.
The six-car convoy went to the Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya, where the inspectors visited wounded people and took samples.
Earlier, the UN said one car carrying inspectors to the site had been forced to turn back after it came under attack from sniper fire.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the UN investigation team demanded that "all parties allow this mission to get on with the job so we can begin to establish the facts."
He said: "The team must be able to conduct a full, thorough and unimpeded investigation. I have total confidence in their expertise, professionalism and integrity."
The move comes amid calls from Western capitals for military action to punish the world's worst apparent chemical weapons attack in 25 years.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that western statements on chemical weapons are illogical and politically motivated.
He said that "failure awaits the United States if it attacks Syria".
Yesterday, Mr Assad agreed to allow the inspectors to visit the site.
Elsewhere, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any military intervention in Syria without a mandate from the UN would be a grave violation of international law.
Mr Lavrov appealed at a news conference to the US and other Western powers to avoid "past mistakes" by intervening in Syria following accusations by rebel forces that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons against them.
Claims evidence destroyed by government shelling
Western nations said evidence has been destroyed by government shelling of the area over the past five days, and the Syrian offer to allow inspectors came too late.
The US has faced calls for action in response to Wednesday's attack.
Last year, President Barack Obama declared use of chemical weapons to be a "red line" that would require a firm response.
Mr Obama has been reluctant to intervene in Syria's two-year conflict and US officials stressed that he has yet to make a decision on how to respond.
Republican Senator Bob Corker said he believed Mr Obama would ask Congress for authorisation to use force when politicians return from summer recess next month.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a round of phone calls to his foreign counterparts that there was "very little doubt" the Syrian government had gassed its own citizens.
The State Department said Mr Kerry emphasised this in calls to the foreign ministers of France, Britain and Canada, as well as to Mr Ban and Mr Lavrov.
Russia, a major ally of Mr Assad, has suggested that rebels may have been behind the chemical attack and said it would be a "tragic mistake" to jump to conclusions over who was responsible.
The UN said Syria had agreed to a ceasefire while the experts are at the site for inspections.
Mr Assad's opponents have given death tolls ranging from 500 to well over 1,000.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague has said it would be possible to respond to chemical weapon use in Syria without unanimous UN backing.
He said the UN has not shouldered its responsibility over the Syria crisis.
Damascus hospitals face major shortages
Director of Médecins San Frontieres in Ireland Jane-Anne McKenna said the hospitals it works with in Syria did not have sufficient stocks of the drug required to treat the patients affected by last week's attack.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms McKenna said MSF is working to re-stock hospitals with atropine to allow them to respond adequately in the case of further attacks.
Ms McKenna re-confirmed that three hospitals in Damascus that work with MSF treated 3,600 patients who were exposed to neuro-toxic agents, of which 355 subsequently died.
Ms McKenna said the scale of the attack "overwhelmed" the medical facilities, and healthcare workers who were treating victims became contaminated.
In one of the hospitals, over 70% of heathcare workers became contaminated, and one died as a result.
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