Report on Syrian Chemical Attacks 'Part of PR Campaign to Demonize Assad'

On Wednesday, the UN and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released the results of a probe into chemical weapons attacks in Syria in 2014 and 2015 that implicate the Syrian government and the Daesh terrorist group.

Earlier, Reuters obtained a report saying that two of the nine chemical attacks in Syria were conducted by the Syrian government. According to the report, Syrian forces are responsible for attacks with the use of chlorine while Daesh militants allegedly used sulfur mustard gas.

The report was presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday and was distributed among the Security Council members. According to the secretary general, the Security Council will discuss it next week.

In turn, Representative of the Syrian Republic to the UN, Bashar al-Jaafery said that the Syrian government received much information from the Syrian and Russian intelligence about chemical weapons produced by terrorists.

Jaafery stressed that despite the fact that there is enough information, many countries lack the "political will" to punish those responsible for chemical attacks in Syria.

Earlier, he claimed that the French intelligence and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius were involved in a toxic gas attack in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta in August 2013, which killed over 1,300 civilians.

A mission to eliminate Syria's chemical arsenal was announced after the deadly gas attack. Moscow urged Damascus to place its chemical weapons under international control, and Syria agreed to the Russian initiative.

The attack was designed to distract UN inspection from another incident blamed on rebels, he said.

"According to the French sources and according to the book 'Road to Damascus' the famous French journalists Georges Malbruno and Christian Shesno have documented evidence to prove the involvement of the former French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, in the Eastern Guta tragedy near Damascus," Jaafrey said in an exclusive interview with Sputnik.

Allegations that Damascus used chemical weapons are a repetitive story distributed by Western propaganda, Alexander Perendzhiev, assistant professor at the Russian Higher School of Economics, said.

He added that while the West accuses Syrian President Bashar Assad of using chemical weapons it ignores real facts of chemical attacks by Syrian militants.

"One can love or hate Assad and its policy but it’s clear that the West demonizes and ignores war crimes conducted by Assad’s rivals. By the way, accusations against Assad are very similar to those made by Washington against Saddam Hussein," Perendzhiev told the Russian online newspaper Vzglyad.

However, the expert suggested that the new accusations against Assad are not related to the latest developments in Syria. They are rather part of the broader media campaign against the Syrian president.

"Before Russia engaged in Syria the West saw Assad as the main bad guy. Russia’s involvement drew international attention to the real problem, Daesh. Even Turkey, which supported militant groups against Assad, is now fighting terrorism in Syria. It seems like the United States and its allies want to switch global attention to fighting Assad, not terrorism," he pointed out.

Russian political analyst Evgeniy Satanovsky said that the West is still trying to topple Assad. In addition, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are in the game too.

"Now, we’re witnessing another PR campaign demonizing Assad who didn’t use chemical weapons. Damascus destroyed its chemical arsenal in cooperation with Russia in 2013," Satanovsky said.