The Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that "fabricated" claims about the alleged use of chemical weapons by the country’s military were aimed at impeding the progress of its ongoing anti-terrorist operations.
"There is nothing but another last-ditch attempt by western countries that obey to their master — the United States — to ease pressure on their terrorist slaves in Idlib. And it is an obviously pathetic attempt to delay the advance of the [Syrian] military in these regions", the statement, conveyed via a state-run TV broadcaster, read.
The statement came as US Department of State spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said on May 22 that Washington was collecting information regarding an alleged chemical weapons attack that reportedly took place in Syria over the weekend, warning the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad that it would quickly respond if Damascus’ use of chemical weapons is confirmed.
While Damascus has denied the claims, the Russian Foreign Ministry insisted that the United States used the information received from unreliable sources, including those affiliated with terrorist groups.
The statement continued by calling the US claims of a chemical attack in Syria “fabricated and having nothing to do with reality,” saying they threatened the Syrian government and its people.
The Foreign Ministry argued, however, that this information "noise" would not prevent the Syrian military from continuing its fight against terrorism and its efforts to purge the country’s soil of terror groups.
Notably, last week, the Russian Defense Ministry said that terrorists of the Nusra Front group were preparing provocations in the northwestern Idlib province in an attempt to implicate the Russian military in the use of chemical weapons against civilians.
The Russian Defense Ministry has also denied On Friday reports of a chemical attack in Syria's Idlib, saying that “this cynical lie is not even confirmed by the White Helmets.”
"The desire of the US State Department to impose another lie on the world about some 'signs of a chemical attack' in the Idlib de-escalation zone is no longer perplexing", ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov told reporters.
The Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists are the only "sources" and "eyewitnesses" of the chemical attack that was allegedly carried out in Idlib, according to the ministry.
"A particular cynicism is given to the US State Department's statement about the alleged 19 May 'chemical attack' in Syria by the subsequent public denials of this lie even by the UK[-based Syrian] Observatory for Human Rights and the so-called fraudsters of the White Helmets", Konashenkov said.
The Defense Ministry continued by describing Washington's attempts to "invent" a story about alleged chemical attacks in Idlib as a political cover for terrorist actions.
"We also want to remind the State Department that on 18 May, Syrian government troops were the first to unilaterally completely cease-fire. They did not succumb to numerous provocations for several days. Therefore, there were no 'attacks' on 19 May in the Idlib de-escalation zone in principle", he said.
MNA/Sputnik