Lavrov Warns West: WMD Pretext in Syria Dangerous

Local Editor

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, accused Monday foreign sides of seeking to topple the Syrian regime in whichever way.

He further stressed that the pretext of the use of chemical weapons is dangerous.
He also warned the West against "using a search for weapons of mass destruction in Syria as an excuse for ousting President Bashar al-Assad along the lines of the notorious hunt for deadly arms in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

In parallel, the head of Russian diplomacy questioned why UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was calling for a fact-finding mission in Syria by citing unproven claims of the regime's use of chemical weapons in December.
"This demand by the Secretary General with reference to a forgotten episode reminds us a great deal of attempts in Syria to introduce a practice analogous to that which existed in Iraq, when they were looking for weapons of mass destruction there," Lavrov told reporters.

Lavrov - speaking during a joint press appearance with African Union Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma - accused some governments and other players of using the threat of chemical warfare as a pretext for insisting on a foreign invasion of Syria.
"There are governments and outside players that believe that all means are appropriate to overthrow the Syrian regime," said Lavrov, apparently referring to Western and anti-Assad Arab governments.

However, he viewed that "the subject of using weapons of mass destruction is too serious. It should not be joked around with."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org