Syria rejects US 'lies' on chemical weapons use

Syria has rejected as “lies” the United States’ allegations about the Syrian army’s use of chemical weapons against a group of foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists.

Blasting Washington for relying on stories conjured by the “so-called partners on the ground,” a source from Syria’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday shrugged off Washington's allegations that Syria recently launched a chemical attack on terrorists near Damascus.

According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, the source said no sarin gas had been used in military operations near the Syrian capital in the recent past.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that the White House was concerned that militants had been attacked by sarin, a deadly nerve agent.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria in early 2011, the Western governments have on several occasions accused Syria of using chemical weapons against Takfiri terrorists. Damascus has rejected the allegation, saying it is meant to pile more pressure on the government forces and delay their success in the fight against terrorists.

Last year, the US and allies in Europe said Syria and Russia, an ally of Damascus in the fight against terror, used chemical weapons against terrorits in Khan Sheikhun in the province of Idlib. Moscow swiftly rejected the allegations, saying its fighter jets had in fact bombarded a depot in the area in which the militants had stored chemicals.

The Syrian government and allied fighters have managed to liberate most of the territories that used to be under the control of the militants for the past years.