Moscow: US Claims on Chemical Weapons May Be Aimed to Interfere in Syria Affairs

Russia does not rule out that US statements on the use of chemical weapons by Damascus are written with a view to possible intensification of interference in Syria's internal affairs, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces supported by the United States blamed the Syrian government for an alleged chemical weapon attack in Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s Idlib province.

Reacting to the incident, Washington, which had not presented any proof of the chemical weapons use by Damascus, launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on the Syrian governmental military airfield in Ash Sha’irat on April 6.

"We do not rule out that such unsightly official comments are written with a view to a possible future intensification of interference in Syrian internal affairs," the statement said.

On April 21, Assad told Sputnik that there was no chemical weapon attack in Idlib, adding that the reports of it were a false flag and fabrication which was supposed to justify a US missile strike on the Syrian airbase.

On June 20, the OPCW said that its fact-finding mission confirmed that man-made chemical sarin, a gas used as a chemical weapon, was used in Khan Shaikhoun in Idlib in early April, but did not determine who was responsible. None of the experts of the OPCW mission and the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism visited the place of the incident.