RNA - Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said that Jabhat al-Nusra and its affiliated terrorist groups are preparing to use chemical weapons against civilians in Idlib, the last major militant stronghold that is subject to an upcoming major counter-terrorism operation by the Syrian army.
The Western states, which support terror outfits operating in Syria, would then use the chemical attack as a pretext to launch an offensive against the country, he added.
Ja’afari also stressed that any aggression against Syria would constitute an act of aggression against regional and international peace and security, amount to supporting terrorism and undermine efforts to combat the scourge.
Certain Western states, he said, are using their “black flags and White Helmets” to stage new chemical attacks in order to obstruct the political process and justify their aggression against Syria, he said.
The Syrian envoy further called on countries capable of influencing terrorists to prevent their agents from taking any action against the Syrian people.
On April 7, an alleged chemical weapons attack hit the Damascus suburb town of Douma, just as the Syrian army was about to win the battle against the militants there.
According to Press TV, Western states blamed the Syrian government for the incident, but Damascus firmly rejected the accusation.
One week after the suspected gas attack, the US, Britain and France launched a coordinated missile strike against sites and research facilities near Damascus and Homs with the purported goal of paralyzing the Syrian government’s capability to produce chemicals.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ja’afari reaffirmed that Syria considers the use of chemical weapons immoral and had already had all its chemical arsenal destroyed.
He also said that Israel’s nuclear, chemical, and biological arsenal is waiting for the “blessing” of the UN Security Council.
Syria surrendered its entire chemical stockpile in 2013 to a mission led by the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN.
Russia issues warning
Additionally on Tuesday, Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya told the Security Council that White Helmets “volunteers” had transferred two toxic gas containers to Idlib, where they already had eight containers, with the intent of using them against civilians in order to justify a new strike by Washington, London and Paris.
"We are deeply concerned of the warnings of our Western partners on the possible use by the Syrian Regime - as they call - it of chemical weapons. We consider it as an invitation to the armed rebel groups to stage another chemical attacks as they did in Eastern Ghouta and Douma early in April or early in Khan Shaykhun, as a pretext of military strikes against Syria. We see these preparations, we see the military build-up and we strongly warned against it," he said.
Nebenzya also estimated that Takfiri terrorists were holding over two million people in Idlib hostage and preventing them from leaving the province.
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