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Conflict in Syria

Syria dismisses OPCW report on chemical weapons in Khan Shaykhun

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the report's "conclusions, based on falsifications by illegal armed formations and western intelligence sources, are false"

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Saturday rejected the report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the April 4 chemical weapons incident in Khan Shaykhun as based on a fabricated version.

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Lavrov points out OPCW was unaware of how sarin was delivered to Syria’s Khan Shaykhun

The Syrian Foreign Ministry statement, quoted by the SANA news agency said the "conclusions, based on falsifications by illegal armed formations and western intelligence sources, are false."

"This is inadmissible for Syria, because the OPCW, on its part, failed to meet the main requirement - to make the report that would be fair, objective and not affected by blackmail from states that seek to prevent the truth from coming out."

The statement says that OPCW received the information from Turkish-based terrorists and the White Helmets organization, linked to the Jabhat al-Nusra extremist group (outlawed in Russia).

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly expressed its readiness to "assist in sending OPCW experts to Khan Shaykhun for an on-site investigation."

"The Syrian authorities have also offered to provide a plane so that the special mission could visit the Shayrat air base (Homs Governorate), but its specialists did not accept the offier," the statement reads.

The OPCW report, published on Thursday, says that sarin or a similar nerve agent was sprayed in the city of Khan Shaykhun. As a result, 100 people were killed. The report will be handed over to the joint UN-OPCW investigative commission that would determine those responsible for the attack.

The incident involving the alleged use of chemical weapons in Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib province took place on April 4. According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, Syrian aircraft struck terrorists’ workshops that were producing chemical agents. Washington accused Damascus of using chemical weapons, after which the US Navy delivered a missile strike in the small hours of April 7 on a Syrian military airfield in the province of Homs.

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