Damascus’ ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva vehemently rejected allegations by Western powers against his country, in which they accused Assad’s regime of using chemical weapons on besieged rebel-held areas. In an address to the world body, ambassador Hussam Edin Alaa declared that his country had no chemical weapons arsenals and directed an accusation to “terrorist groups” operating in Syria, including the al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State, which he claimed, “had managed to obtain some chemical stocks.” “I would like to express our definite condemnation of Syria for the use of chemical weapons and toxins by anybody wherever and whenever this may take place. We condemn the fact that terrorist groups such as al-Nusra, Daesh (Islamic State) and other terrorist groups who have obtained such weapons and are using is very dangerous and there must be an agreement on the best way to prevent this, away from fabrication, selective considerations and narrow political goals,” Syria’s Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Hussam Edin Alaa said.
Western diplomats responded to the Syrian statement by labelling the Damascus regime as untrustworthy and absent of any credibility, with the U.S. Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood referring to the Syrian claim that it had fulfilled all of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention as “simply absurd.” Syria has no credibility on this issue, none what so ever. But I will say this, the regime will be held accountable for the crimes it has committed against its own people. Let there be no doubt. Last point on this, Syria says it has fulfilled all of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and that it is just simply absurd,” US disarmament Ambassador Rober Wood said.
The world’s chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague opened an investigation on Sunday into attacks in the besieged, rebel-held Syrian region of eastern Ghouta to determine whether reports by the “White Helmets Organizations” on the use of banned munitions were truthful.
In response to the American statement regarding the allegations against Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asserted that it was a ploy, based on unfounded allegations, as a tool of anti-Syrian geopolitical engineering.” “In parallel, Washington, while referring to fake sensations makers, such as fully-discredited White Helmets, puts forward absurd claims against the government of Syria that in the hardest circumstances of fight against international terrorism has eliminated its chemical weapons stockpiles under the strictest international control in response to the joint initiative by Moscow and Washington and continues to cooperate with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.” / “Sadly, the U.S. and its allies are exploiting unfounded allegations of poisonous substance use by Damascus as a tool of anti-Syrian geopolitical engineering,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
While Moscow has yet again come to the defense of its ally in Damascus, Britain has announced that it would consider joining a United States aerial campaign against the Syrian government if evidence would verify that Assad’s military had indeed used chemical weapons against civilians.