Syria struck terrorists’ chemical depot in Idlib: Russia

Russia says the Syrian Air Force recently hit a depot used by terrorists to make and store ammunition, including chemical weapons, in the Arab country’s Northeastern Idlib Province.

According to Press TV, the Russian Defense Ministry’s Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov made the announcement on Tuesday, just after the United States and its allies rushed to accuse Syrian government forces of carrying out “a chemical attack” in the province earlier in the day.

A militant medical authority had put the death toll from the blast at more than 100, with hundreds more injured. The UK-based so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, gave a tally of 72, including 20 children, saying, “The death toll could rise further because there are people missing.”

Konashenkov added that the same chemical munitions had already been used by terrorists in the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo, where Russian military experts took samples in late 2016.

The Syrian army has roundly denied using “any chemical or toxic material” in the town, adding that it “has not used nor will use in any place or time, neither in past or in future.”

Syria’s Foreign Ministry also issued a separate statement on Tuesday, strongly denying the use of poisonous gas in Khan Shaykhun or any other Syrian city or village by the country’s military and emphasizing that the Syrian Arab army did not possess any form of chemical weapons.

The Syrian government turned over its entire chemical stockpile under a deal negotiated by Russia and the United States back in 2013. The United Nations Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has overseen operations to remove the government chemical arsenal from Syria.

Meanwhile, Britain, France and the United States have presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council, condemning “the suspected chemical attack” and demanding a full investigation.

ME