MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Media reports about the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army in the Kabani settlement in northern Latakia are fake, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry reaffirms the statement of the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces which denied these claims and affirmed that they are completely baseless, noting that Syria had cooperated fully with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which declared Syria free of chemical weapons," the statement said, as cited by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

According to the document, "Syria has never used such weapons before" and will "not use them now, as it does not possess such weapons in the first place, and it considers the use of toxic weapons contradictory to its moral and international obligations."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry pointed out that "such recurring, hollow, barefaced media fabrications will not dissuade Syria from fighting terrorism until security and safety are restored across the country."

The Syrian army command earlier refuted information spread by terrorists that government troops used chemical weapons in the Kabani settlement located in the northern part of Latakia province. "Terrorist groups and some of their affiliated media outlets are reporting false news about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Arab Army in Kabani town in Latakia countryside, the way they always do after every defeat," a military source said, as cited by SANA.

On May 17, Russia’s Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria warned that terrorists from the Jabhat al-Nusra group (outlawed in Russia) were getting ready to stage provocations in the northern de-escalation zone in order to blame the Syrian Army for using chemical weapons.