Threat of Chemical Weapons-Related Provocations in Syria Still Remains - Kremlin

The threat of chemical weapons-related provocations in Syria still remains, the Kremlin said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The threat of provocations related to use of chemical weapons in Syria still remains, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, adding that terrorists might possess toxic substances.

"There was repeated information about possible provocations with usage of toxic substances. And, of course, making it public was likely to help to avoid such provocations," Peskov added.

The Kremlin spokesman pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-US leader Barack Obama agreed in 2013 to work together to liquidate stockpiles of chemical weapons in Syria, and it was stated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that Syria's chemical reserves were destroyed.

"However, it was repeatedly stressed that there were cases of use of chemical toxic substances in Iraq, including by terrorists, which means that terrorists might possess toxic substances. And so that is just what Putin was talking about — that the threat of new such provocations, unfortunately, is still quite obvious," Peskov told reporters.

On Friday, Putin said at the International Economic Forum in Russia’s St. Petersburg (SPIEF) that Russia foiled planned chemical attacks’ reiteration on the Syrian territory by making public the intelligence data on the plot in early May. The Russia leader also refuted the reports of Syrian President Bashar Assad having stockpiles of toxic substances, and people having allegedly suffered from the chemical weapons and called them a "provocation."

On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces claimed that 80 people were killed and 200 injured in a suspected chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun, blaming the Syrian government. Damascus vehemently rejected the accusations and said militants and their allies were responsible.

Early April 7, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha’irat, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Homs. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib, which Washington blames on the Syrian government. Russia described the attack as an aggression against a sovereign state.

The OPCW announced in January 2016 that Syria’s weapons arsenal had been destroyed in accordance with an agreement reached after the 2013 Ghouta attack.