Syria Denies Using Chemicals, Says It Informed OPCW of Terrorist’s Access to Toxic Materials

Mikdad in an Interview with al-Mayadeen TV told on Tuesday that over the past few weeks, the Syrian government has provided the OPCW and the UN with documented reports on transporting toxic substances into Syria and storing them to do such an act by the terrorist organizations including al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, al-Nusra Front, pointing out that these documents were obtained by the OPCW and the UN Security Council.
 
Western countries and organizations did not hesitate to blame Syrian army for the death of dozens of people who allegedly killed as result of exposure to chemicals in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in a rebel-held area of northern Syria the chemical attack.
 
But top Syria diplomat denied the accusations and said "the Syrian Arab Army doesn’t possess chemical weapons and that it has never used such weapons even in the fiercest battles with the terrorist groups.
 
The Deputy Minister reiterated that using chemical weapons by terrorist organizations again on Syrian territories aims at achieving a cheap political gain and justifying their failure in the talks of Astana and Geneva.
 
“Sacrificing the lives of the Syrian civilians in this way to achieve political goals is a cheap policy,” Mikdad said, referring in this regard to the statement of the head of the Turkish regime Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which he shed crocodile tears for the fate of the Syrian people although he is responsible for the death of tens of thousands of Syrians.
 
“We are witnessing one of the attacks which have been repeated over the past few weeks and months,” he went on to say, indicating that the victory of Aleppo and the advances achieved by the Syrian Arab Army in the surroundings of Damascus and Hama are the reason behind this attack.
 
He called upon the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to be reasonable and to practice the role of honest mediator, and not to stand by terrorism, adding that the terrorist groups and their backers in Britain, France, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are the ones who committed this crime.
 
Mikdad called upon the international community to prosecute the parties who committed this crime, considering that the discussions of Brussels Conference which will be held on Wednesday will be for fabricating charges against Syria.
 
“The terrorist groups and the so-called Syrian oppositions have failed to be in line with the plans and goals of the process of restoring security and stability to Syria, and therefore all these parties are launching today an unjust systematic campaign against Syria,” he said.
 
“We strongly condemn these attacks against our people by the terrorist organizations and their backers, particularly the Turkish and Saudi regimes,” Mikdad said, pointing out that these two regimes do not hesitate to use any weapon in their attempts to undermine the will of the Syrian people and to fabricate accusations against the Syrian government.
 
Chemical contamination been caused by damage to militants' warehouse
 
Russian Defense Minister believes that the contamination may has been caused by Syrian air force's airstrike against terrorists' positions in Idlib province where militants chemical weapons storage site was destroyed.
 
According to the Russian Defense Ministry the operation, which was launched midday Tuesday, targeted a major rebel ammunition depot east of the town of Khan Sheikhoun, Russia Today reported.
 
The warehouse was used to both produce and store shells containing toxic gas, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. The shells were delivered to Iraq and repeatedly used there, he added, pointing out that both Iraq and international organizations have confirmed the use of such weapons by terrorists.
 
The same chemical munitions were used by terrorists in Aleppo, where Russian military experts took samples in late 2016, Konashenkov said.
 
According to the statement, Khan Sheikhoun civilians, who recently suffered a chemical attack, displayed identical symptoms to those of Aleppo chemical attack victims.
 
Over 70 people, including children, reportedly died and scores were injured after a hospital in Khan Sheikhoun was targeted in a suspected gas attack on Tuesday morning.
 
 Soon after a missile allegedly hit the facility, people started showing symptoms of chemical poisoning, such as choking and fainting. The victims were reportedly also seen with foam coming out of their mouths. While the major Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, and other pro-militant groups put the blame on the attack onto President Bashar Assad’s government, the Syrian military dismissed all allegations as propaganda by the terrorists.
 
"We deny completely the use of any chemical or toxic material in Khan Sheikhoun town today and the army has not used nor will use in any place or time, neither in past or in future," the Syrian army said in a statement.