Bashar Assad:

New Provocations Similar to Alleged Idlib Incident Possible in Syria

Rasa - Syrian President Bashar Assad warned that new provocations, similar to the one that took place in the Khan Sheikhoun area of Syria's province of Idlib, cannot be ruled out.

News ID: 429133

Date: 22 April 2017 - 23:48

RNA - "Actually, this possibility is not only because of what happened recently. It happened before, and we had this possibility a few years ago, since the first time they used it in 2013, since that time it's a possibility for us, and it's been used, it wasn't only a possibility, but this time the propaganda was different, because everybody was ready for the attack, so that was part of the agenda, part of the plan, it was one plan, it wasn't two different incidents. So, of course it is a possibility," Assad told RIA Novosti.

Following the Khan Sheikhoun incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has information about new provocations being prepared in Syria, including in the suburbs of Damascus, where "some substance" could be planted across the country and blamed on the Syrian government.

On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces claimed that 80 people were killed and 200 injured in a suspected chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, putting the blame on the Syrian government. Damascus vehemently rejected the accusations and said militants and their allies were responsible.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Syrian Air Force hit a warehouse where militants stored chemical weapons, which were sent to Iraq. The Russian Foreign Ministry reminded that the Syrian government doesn't possess chemical weapons since mid-2014. Chemical weapons have been taken out of the country with US' help.

In response to the Khan Sheikhoun incident the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Shayrat in Homs province.

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