BEIRUT — The international chemical weapons watchdog said Tuesday that it plans to send a fact-finding mission to Syria to investigate allegations that the government used chlorine gas in attacks against civilians in recent weeks.

The announcement came as mortar fire and a bombing killed more than 50 people in government-controlled parts of Damascus and Homs, underscoring the risk that a prolonged insurgency will continue to bleed areas where rebels are being quashed.

Additional Photos

In this photo which AP obtained from the Syrian official news agency SANA, and has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, doctors treat a wounded Syrian boy at a hospital in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday. A series of mortar shells slammed into central Damascus on Tuesday, killing more than a dozen people and wounding scores, state media reported. The attacks in the Syrian capital came a day after President Bashar Assad announced his candidacy for the June 3 presidential election. The Associated Press

A medic treats people in Kfar Zeita, a rebel-held village in Hama province, in Syria, on April 18. The Associated Press

In a statement issued at its headquarters in The Hague, the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons said inspectors would leave “soon” to verify whether chlorine gas was used in bombs dropped on at least two villages in rebel-held areas of northern Syria.

The Syrian government has agreed to the mission and has promised to provide security in territory under its control, the statement added. But it is not clear how the inspectors will cross dangerous front lines to reach the opposition areas where the attacks occurred.

Although the attacks have not been independently verified, videos posted on YouTube showed scores of civilians gasping for breath in hospitals after reportedly inhaling gases.

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