The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday rejected a report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that accuses the Army of the Middle Eastern nation of committing a chemical attack on April 7, 2018 in the city of Syria. Duma, which would have caused 43 fatalities, reported the Telesur web portal.
Through an official statement, the Foreign Ministry said: “Syria totally rejects the report issued by the so-called OPCW Investigation and Identification Team on the alleged incident of chlorine use in Douma in April 2018, in addition to its conclusions.”
The Foreign Ministry highlighted that the text lacks scientific evidence and that its authors neglected the objective observations raised by the States parties, experts, academics and former OPCW inspectors, known for their experience and knowledge.
Likewise, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the United States and the West of politicizing the work of the OPCW, distorting its objectives and turning it into a tool of its geopolitical interests.
In view of the above, he called on the United Nations Organization (UN) and the States parties to the International Convention against the Use of Chemical Weapons to responsibly preserve the independence, credibility and future of the OPCW.
Said entity released a report in which it stated that the Syrian Arab Army allegedly launched chlorine gas cylinders on residential areas during a military operation in 2018 in the aforementioned city, which in April of that year was in the hands of terrorist elements.
Russia presented evidence of fake chemical attack in Syria in 2020
The testimonies of these witnesses are indisputable evidence that the chemical attack in Douma was faked,” said the president of a Russian NGO.
The Russian non-governmental organization Foundation for the Study of Democracy presented data to the United Nations Security Council that would show that the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Douma in April 2018 was false.
During a meeting of the aforementioned international entity held at the initiative of Moscow, the director of the Foundation, Maksim Grigoriev, presented the results of the interviews carried out by representatives of his organization with more than 300 residents within a radius of one kilometer around the building where the alleged victims of the chemical attack were found.
“The testimonies of these witnesses are indisputable evidence that the chemical attack in Douma was faked,” Grigoriev said, noting that the people claimed that no person affected by a chemical attack was admitted to the local hospital.
As a climax, Russia denounced that the bombardment of the United States, France and the United Kingdom against Syria, carried out a week later in retaliation, was launched without verifying the evidence.
In its final document on the April 7, 2018 attack in Douma, published in March 2019, the OPCW ruled out the use of sarin, but claimed that an attack with a toxic substance took place; it also cited outside “experts” without specifying their names, or entities with which they were linked, and excluded data.
It should be noted that Syria was declared a territory free of chemical weapons in 2016. The process for this purpose was verified by numerous international observers, including the United States.
