Syria rejects US claims on chemical weapon use

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has rejected the US claims about the Syrian government using chemical weapons in the war as "lies."

The ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the US remarks about the use of chemical weapons in the Eastern Ghouta region of the east of the capital Damascus are "false claims", Xinhua news agency reported.

Such allegations were timed to undermine the efforts to resolve the Syrian war through a peaceful settlement between the Syrians without foreign interventions, it noted.

The Syrian government reaffirms its position against the use of chemical weapons, and Syria has handed over all its chemical arsenals to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the ministry said.

The US and its allies are "desperately" searching for a pretext to target Syria, following the success of the Syrian army in its war against terror-designated militant groups across Syria, it pointed out.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis recently threatened Syria with a military action if hard evidence is found to back up the claims of another sarin attack in Syria.

Last month, activists claimed the Syrian forces used chlorine in an attack on the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus, causing 21 people to suffer from breathing difficulties.

In April last year, the US struck a military base in central Syria with more than 50 Tomahawk missiles, in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack by the government forces on a rebel-held town in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The Syrian government denied the accusations, saying it's rebels who mounted the attack to frame the government and draw in a military action from the US.

--IANS

pgh/