DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syrian Parliament Speaker Hammouda Sabbagh has slammed the Western sanctions imposed on Syria as a violation of international law, calling for lifting such measures completely, according to the state news agency SANA.
Sabbagh, during his meeting on Tuesday with a visiting delegation from the European Parliament headed by French politician Thierry Mariani, voiced appreciation for Mariani’s stances in supporting Syria, affirming the importance of conveying what Syrians have been suffering to the public in France and Europe.
He said that the sanctions have affected the medical sector since the imports of medical materials and equipment to hospitals in Syria have been restricted.
For his part, Mariani said his visit to Syria aims to figure out the reality on the ground as well as the repercussions of the sanctions.
Mariani also stressed the necessity of changing the European stance and points of view toward Syria, according to SANA.
The U.S. has slammed sanctions on Syria over accusations Damascus rejects.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday slammed the U.S. State Department’s recent statement accusing the Syrian government of carrying out a chemical attack in a former militant-held area in 2013, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.
The ministry dismissed the U.S. statement as “baseless allegations... through which the U.S. tried to distort facts and spread lies” about the alleged chemical attack in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of the capital Damascus in 2013.
The U.S. State Department made the accusation in a recent statement alleging that the Syrian government forces used “nerve agent sarin” in the Ghouta district of Damascus to kill more than 1,400 people.
The Syrian foreign ministry, in its response Wednesday, said that the statement clearly reflects “the U.S. continued hostile method against Syria which comes to cover its failure in Afghanistan and its support to terrorism that Syria encounters.”
“The government of the Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms once again that it stands against the use of that kind of weapons in any place, at any time and under any circumstance and by any side as it is an issue that opposes Syria’s principles and moral,” said the ministry.