One of the first politicians who has hastened to shift responsibility for the incident to the Syrian army was British Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson. He accused the Syrian authorities of "using illegal weapons in a barbaric attack on their own people". Johnson's accusations were also shared by the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces. According to the coalition's reports at least 80 people were killed, and 200 wounded as a result of the Khan Sheikhoun attack.
In this regard, on Tuesday the United States, France and Great Britain proposed a United Nations Security Council resolution, in which they accused the Syrian government and its allies of carrying out a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria.
According to Reuters, the draft text says Syria's government must provide an international investigation with flight plans and logs for Tuesday, the names of all helicopter squadron commanders and provide access to air bases where investigators believe attacks using chemicals may have been launched. The document also asks U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report monthly on whether the Syrian government is cooperating with an international investigation and a fact-finding mission into chemical weapons use in Syria.
In its turn, the General Command of the Syrian Army categorically denied any accusations of using chemical weapons and said it never used it in past or "would ever do". In addition, the Syrian Army placed responsibility for the chemical attack on militants and their patrons.
The accusations against the Syrian government have arisen on the eve of the Brussels Conference on supporting the future of Syria and the region, where politicians are to discuss the issues of the humanitarian aid, political settlement of the Syrian crisis, and post-war reconstruction of the country.
It should be mentioned that the opposition has repeatedly accused the Syrian government of killing civilians on the eve of important negotiations. Earlier, it had used similar tactics at the meetings in Geneva and Astana.
It is obvious that accusing Damascus of using chemical weapons, Western countries are trying to undermine the progress of the Syrian Army in order to prevent its success in fighting terrorism and slowdown the process of the peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis.
[Written by Anna Jaunger]
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source : ABNA
Wednesday
5 April 2017
8:59:48 PM
822147
(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The western countries continue to accuse the Syrian government of chemical attacks. Most recent accusations were caused by an air strike on a chemical weapons depot in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Syria's Idlib province.