Reports on the use of chemical weapons in Syria become an information weapon and are used for political purposes, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated "government hour" at the State Duma.
"Based on those games with chemical weapons in the information field… Some argue, without proof, that the Syrian government uses them [chemical weapons], others say the government has no power. And we have already reached the point where we are absolutely convinced today that most of the films and reports are staged, before that they were also staged. Not only we have who proved that, it was shown many times that it became an instrument. It began, as you can remember, in Iraq, when all sorts of test tubes and vials were shown up, but it turned out that there was nothing and the country was collapsed," he said.
On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces said the Syrian government had carried out a chemical weapons attack in the Khan Sheikhoun area of Idlib province.
The Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said its analysis of samples from people killed and injured in the attack determined sarin or a sarin-like gas was used.
Damascus denied any involvement in the incident and the Syrian army said it does not possess chemical weapons.
This was the second time that Donald Trump administration has used military force directly against Damascus.
On April 6, US Navy destroyers fired 59 cruise missiles at the Ash Sha'irat Airbase in western Syria, calling their attacks a "warning" to Damascus following a chemical weapons incident in Idlib province which Washington claimed was carried out by the Syrian government forces.
The claim was rejected by Damascus. The world is still waiting for the US and its allies to provide any proof for its claims of Syrian government involvement in the alleged chemical attack.
