'Some Western Countries Invest in Terrorism, Fear and Horror' - Damascus

In an interview with Sputnik, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister pointed the finger at "some Western countries" which he said prefer to invest in terrorism rather than fight to end it.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mikdad told Sputnik that there is an effective coordination between the Russian and Syrian leaders at various levels.

According to him," at the current stage, the country's policy is pursued in two parallel directions."

"The first aspect is related to the military struggle against terrorism. In this area, Syria has achieved outstanding success thanks to the support of its Russian allies," al-Mikdad said.

#Wahhabi States, US, EU compensate Syria for your call for Regime Change, bombings, support of #terrorists.#Syriahttps://t.co/ja8am8pxT2

— Human Guardians (@humanguardians) 22 июля 2017 г.

"The second aspect pertains to a political settlement. We took part in all international political negotiations in Geneva. The main difficulty which we had to face is the unwillingness of some Western countries to fight terrorism. They preferred to invest in this phenomenon which brings horror and fear," he added.

He attributed all the problems of the region to the desire of Western countries to regain colonial domination.

"The US is primarily responsible for spreading terrorism and all the horrors associated with it. Strengthening its positions, Washington takes decisions which are out of line with international laws and which are not approved by international institutions," he pointed out.

Touching upon accusations levied against the Syrian government in connection with the alleged use of chemical weapons by Damascus, al-Mikdad said that "we have repeatedly asked competent organizations to conduct a full-fledged investigation, but the US rejected it."

"Instead, they prefer to repeat attacks against civilians. On this issue, Russia and Syria held bilateral consultations to develop a retaliation plan which will be implemented in due time," he said.

According to al-Mikdad, the Syrian government cooperates with 23 international non-governmental organizations that coordinate their work with Syrian officials. 

"This list would be greater if all the public and humanitarian organizations focused on helping civilians rather than supporting terrorists on behalf of their sponsors in the United States, Britain and France," he concluded.

On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, supported by the US, blamed the Syrian government for an alleged chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun in Syria's Idlib province.

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

Damascus has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident and said that the Syrian government doesn't possess chemical weapons. Moreover, the full destruction of Damascus' chemical weapons stockpile was documented by the OPCW in January 2016.

Earlier this month, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that terrorists in Syria were planning to stage provocations involving chemical weapons in order to justify US strikes on the Syrian Army and its allies.