DAMASCUS (AFP) - UN inspectors tasked with investigating whether chemical weapons have been used in the Syrian conflict arrived in Damascus on Sunday, an Agence France-Presse journalist reported.

The UN team arrived at a hotel in the Syrian capital to begin their hard-won mission which UN officials have said will last two weeks.

The mission had been repeatedly delayed earlier this year amid differences with President Bashar al-Assad's regime over the scope of the probe into the alleged use of chemical arms in the 29-month civil war.

But the Syrian government insisted on Thursday that it had nothing to hide.

Both the government and the rebels fighting to overthrow Assad accuse each other of using chemical weapons.