The United States on Tuesday asserted that the Assad regime did conduct a chemical weapons attack in Syria and accused Russia of running a “disinformation campaign” to “confuse” the international community.
“The United States is confident that the Syrian regime conducted a chemical weapons attack, using the nerve agent sarin, against its own people in the town of Khan Shaykhun in southern Idlib Province on April 4, 2017,” a senior administration official told reporters at the White House.
Strongly refuting the Russian allegations that the American narrative on this was false, the official said that the Syrian regime maintains the capability and intent to use chemical weapons against the opposition to prevent the loss of territory deemed critical to its survival.
“We assess that Damascus launched this chemical attack in response to an opposition offensive in northern Hamah province that threatened key infrastructure. Senior regime leaders were probably involved in planning the attack,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The senior administration official alleged that the Syrian regime and its primary backer, Russia, have “sought to confuse the world community” about who was responsible for using chemical weapons against the Syrian people in this regard and the earlier attacks.
The official asked Russia to “stop the disinformation campaign”.
The official said Russia’s allegations fit with a pattern of deflecting blame from the regime and attempting to undermine the credibility of its opponents.
“Russia and Syria, in multiple instance since mid-2016, have blamed the opposition for chemical use in attacks. Yet similar to Russian narrative for the attack on Khan Shaykhun, most Russian allegations have lacked specific or credible information,” the official said.
“Moscow’s allegations typically have been timed to distract the international community from Syria’s ongoing use of chemical weapons,” the official said.
They are aimed at countering the findings from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons -- United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism which confirmed in August and October 2016 reports that the Syrian regime has continued to use chemical weapons on multiple occasions long after it committed to relinquish its arsenal in 2013, the official said.
The Assad regime’s brutal use of chemical weapons is unacceptable and poses a clear threat to the national security interests of the United States and the international
community.
“Use of weapons of mass destruction by any actor lowers the threshold for others that may seek to follow suit and raises the possibility that they may be used against the United States, our allies or partners or any other nation around the world,” the official said.
As such the US, the official said, calls on the world community in the strongest possible terms to stand with it in making an unambiguous statement that this behaviour will not be tolerated.
“This is a critical moment -- we must demonstrate that subterfuge and false facts holds no weight, that excuses by those shielding their allies are making the world a more dangerous place, and that the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons will not be permitted to continue,” the senior administration official said.
The White House official also indicated that the US is willing to move ahead in Syria without the approval of the UN.
“While it is an embarrassment that Russia has vetoed multiple UN Security Council resolutions that could have helped rectify the situation, the United States intends to send a clear message now that we and our partners will not allow the world to become a more dangerous place due to the egregious acts of the Assad regime,” the official said.
