A UN inspection team is standing ready again to head for Syria to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons in the country, a long-waited breakthrough if approved by Syria.

A team of UN experts will travel to Syria "as soon as possible" to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in the war-torn Middle East country, a UN spokesman said at the UN headquarters Wednesday.

"On the basis of the information evaluated by the (UN) mission to date and to further the understanding reached with the Syrian government, the mission will travel to Syria as soon as possible to contemporaneously investigate three of the reported incidents, including Khan al-Asal," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters here.

A UN inspection team has been standing ready since April to enter Syria to check the alleged use of chemical weapons, but blocked by Damascus.

The latest announcement came after a visit by UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane and Ake Sellstrom, head of a U.N. chemical weapons investigation team, to Damascus last week amid multiple allegations of chemical weapons use.