MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Members of the Shabab al-Sunnah group, who have access to chemical weapons, plan to carry out a chemical attack in Syria’s Daraa province in order to put the blame on the government forces, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
- France expects Russia to cooperate in dismantling Syria's chemical facilities
- Diplomat says US-made chemical weapons found in Syria prove West’s support for terrorists
- EU imposes sanctions against 16 persons involved in use of chemical weapons in Syria
- Diplomat warns of chemical provocations by terrorists in Syria for grounding US strikes
"There are currently several munitions filled with toxic agents at the Shabab al-Sunnah group’s warehouse located in the Bosra al-Sham settlement, Daraa province," she said. "According to our information, militants plan to use these weapons to attack one of the settlements in the Daraa province, putting the blame on the government forces," Zakharova added.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, six settlements are most likely to come under chemical attack - Hiran, Nawa, Inkhil, Jamila, Tafas and Deira.
On Jabhat al-Nusra
All attempts made by the Jabhat al-Nusra terror organization (outlawed in Russia) to become legalized by changing its name are futile, according to Zakharova.
"There is a feeling that [Jabhat] al-Nusra members came to believe in the saving force of the already customary rebranding and assume that a new change of the form and name will help remove them from the terror organizations list. However, all these attempts to avoid responsibility for the crimes and, let’s put it this way, to become legalized are, of course, forlorn," the diplomat stressed.
"The UN Security Council has clearly classified Jabhat al-Nusra and other structures affiliated to Al-Qaeda as terrorist, with all ensuing consequences," she pointed out.
Head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, Colonel General Igor Korobov, reported last Friday that the number of the new association of terror groups in Syria, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, has exceeded 25,000 militants. The terrorist leaders are trying to establish a new structure, with Jabhat al-Nusra leading in it, in an effort to unite all armed Islamist groups operating in Syria, Korobov said.