The Russian Defense Ministry issued a preemptive assertion Monday accusing the United States of getting ready a “false flag” chemical assault towards civilians in Syria.
The Russian army claimed anti-government rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are working with U.S. particular operations forces to make use of chlorine in a deliberate assault on the residents of Deir ez-Zor, the federal government’s Interfax assertion claimed Monday, the Moscow Times reported. Russia beforehand issued a number of related preemptive statements claiming that Syrian rebels are getting used to stage occasions that might provoke the U.S. to hold out extra air strikes on the civil battle–torn Middle East nation. The allegations made by the Russian army comply with a number of stories of canisters of chlorine-based poisonous gases getting used towards anti-government strongholds and civilians.
Reuters Ali Hashisho
“The Russian Defense Ministry warns that using these provocations to destabilize the situation in Syria is unacceptable,” spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov stated. “According to the information received via three independent channels in Syria, the command of the so-called Free Syrian Army with assistance from the servicemen of U.S. special operations forces is preparing a serious provocation with the use of toxic substance in Deir ez-Zor province.”
In April, the U.S., France and the United Kingdom launched a number of airstrikes towards Syrian targets after accusing President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities in Damascus of utilizing chemical weapons in an assault on town of Douma. Assad informed The Mail that the British authorities labored alongside “The White Helmets, or Syria Civil Defense, to conduct the “PR stunt” as a pretext for the Western allies to attack his regime. In 2017, President Vladimir Putin suggested through the Mir interstate television channel that the April 4 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack using toxic sarin gas was a “provocation” orchestrated by Western allies in tandem with anti-government Syrian forces.
At the G7 Summit meeting last week, the U.S., Canada and several European allies agreed in the highly debated communique to form a coalition against Russian aggression in Syria. “We urge Russia to stop its destabilizing behaviour, to undermine democratic methods and its help of the Syrian regime. We condemn the assault utilizing a army grade nerve agent in Salisbury, United Kingdom. We share and agree with the United Kingdom’s evaluation that it’s extremely probably that the Russian Federation was accountable for the assault, and that there is no such thing as a believable various rationalization. We urge Russia to reside as much as its worldwide obligations, in addition to its tasks as a everlasting member of the UN Security Council, to uphold worldwide peace and safety,” the countries wrote in the communique.
The Organization of Chemical Weapons has repeatedly warned of increased usage of chemical weapons in Syria. In a statement issued from the Hague last month, the group confirmed that a February 4 ammonium chloride–based chemical attack in Saraqib, Idlib Governorate, Syrian Arab Republic, took place. The group said the attack was carried out using “cylinders by mechanical impression” in the Al Talil neighborhood of Saraqib.
“I strongly condemn the continued use of poisonous chemical substances as weapons by anybody, for any purpose, and in any circumstances. Such acts contradict the unequivocal prohibition towards chemical weapons enshrined within the Chemical Weapons Convention,” wrote OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü.