DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The Syrian Foreign Ministry has slammed as “lacking credibility” a recent report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) accusing the Syrian air force of being behind a 2018 alleged chemical attack near the capital Damascus.
In a statement, the ministry listed Syria’s own accusations and condemnations in response to the OPCW report, pointing at the possible role of the United States in politicizing and fabricating reports about incidents in Syria.
“The report lacks any scientific and objective evidence, and no sane person or specialist can reach the misleading conclusions of its authors, who neglected the objective observations raised by state parties, experts, academics, and former inspectors from the organization who are known for their experience and knowledge,” the ministry said.
In the OPCW’s report, which came out on Friday, the body’s investigators said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that at least one Syrian air force helicopter had dropped two cylinders of toxic gas on the town of Douma near the capital Damascus during the alleged incident.
The statement added that “this misleading report did not surprise Syria and proved once again the validity of its position on the OPCW’s reports, which lack credibility.”
The attack reportedly hit the town on April 7, 2018, with Western countries quickly blaming the alleged incident on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
A week later, the United States, Britain, and France launched a coordinated missile attack against sites and research facilities near Damascus and the western Syrian city of Homs with the purported goal of paralyzing the Syrian government’s capability to produce chemicals.
Damascus has, however, repeatedly said that no chemical attack had happened on the town at the time and that the incident had been staged by foreign spy agencies to pressure the Syrian government at a time when it was making significant advances against foreign-backed terrorists across the Arab country’s soil.