Reports of Chemical Attack Appeared Before Syrian Airstrike in Idlib - Syrian FM

The accusations against the Syrian government army allegedly using chemical weapons in the incident in the Syrian province of Idlib make no sense since Damascus has been succeeding in fighting terrorism on all fronts, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Thursday.

“In such context [of government’s army success] would it be logical for us to use chemical weapons,” Muallem said.

Moreover, the first reports of the chemical attack in the province of Idlib appeared a few hours before the Syrian Air Forces conducted an airstrike on an al-Nusra Front ammunition depot on April 4, Walid Muallem noted.

"The chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun was reported at 06:00 am, while the first airstrike by the Syrian army on an ammunition depot of al-Nusra terrorists with chemical weapons inside it was carried out at 11:00 am," Muallem said.

On Tuesday, the Syrian National Coalition of Revolution and Opposition Forces reported that some 80 people were killed and 200 injured earlier on that day in a chemical weapon attack in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib, blaming the Syrian army for the incident. A source in the Syrian army later told Sputnik that the army did not have chemical weapons and the allegations could be part of anti-Damascus propaganda.

Following a 2013 chemical weapon attack in Syria's East Ghouta, Syria joined the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. This was the result of an agreement between Russia and the United States on the destruction of chemical weapons in the Arab country under the control of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). In January 2016, the OPCW announced that all chemical weapons in Syria had been destroyed.