Al-Moallem: Syria Didn’t, Will Not Use Chemical Weapons

Local Editor

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Thursday that Syria's armed forces "did not and will not use chemical weapons, even against terrorists who target our people."

"I stress to you once again: the Syrian army has not, did not and will not use this kind of weapons -- not just against our own people, but even against the terrorists that attack our civilians with their mortar rounds," he said.

Addressing journalists in a press conference Thursday, al-Moallem said: "You were briefed on the statement of the Army and Armed Forces General Command and the statement made by the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry which was sent to the UN Security Council and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] and all of these statements included the absolute rejection of that the army used in the past or uses now or will use in the future any chemical weapons and we condemn using such weapons."

The Syrian FM added, "Terrorists launched attacks in Jobar and Hama countryside before the fifth round of Geneva, and the Riyadh delegation had only one demand in Geneva which is to come into power and when they failed in these attempts they came up with the lie of using chemical weapon by the army in Khan Sheikhoun."

"The first air raid conducted by the Syrian army was at 11:00 am [0800 GMT] on that day [Tuesday] and it attacked an arms depot belonging to al-Nusra Front terrorists that contained chemical weapons," he said.

Al-Moallem further stressed that "Al-Nusra Front and ‘ISIS' and other organizations continue to store chemical weapons in urban and residential areas."

"If there were an airstrike that used chemical weapons, it would have dug a whole with a diameter of 1 km," he added.

The FM went on to say, "This choir which started in the international arena consisted of the states which are well-known for conspiring against Syria."

He affirmed again that the Syrian Arab Army had never and will not use such type of weapons even against the terrorists who target the Syrian people.

On Thursday, Moallem said such an investigation "must guarantee that it is not politicized, that it has broad geographic representation and that it is launched from Damascus, not Turkey."

"We provide the OPCW and the UN with intelligence on the transfer of chemical substances from Iraq and into Syria, or from Turkey into Syria, but an investigation is for the OPCW," he said.

syrian crisis | chemical weapons | isis | daesh | isil | al nusra | russia | khan sheikhoun

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team