People injured in what the government said
was a chemical weapons attack, breathe through oxygen masks as they are treated
at a hospital in the Syrian city of Aleppo March 19, 2013 (Reuters / George
Ourfalian)
Source: Russia Today
Probes from Khan
al-Assal show chemicals used in the March 19 attack did not belong to standard
Syrian army ammunition, and that the shell carrying the substance was similar
to those made by a rebel fighter group, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
A statement
released by the ministry on Wednesday particularly drew attention to the “massive
stove-piping of various information aimed at placing the responsibility for the
alleged chemical weapons use in Syria on Damascus, even though the results of
the UN investigation have not yet been revealed.”
By such means “the
way is being paved for military action”against Damascus, the ministry
pointed out.
But the samples
taken at the site of the March 19 attack and analyzed by Russian experts
indicate that a projectile carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin was most
likely fired at Khan al-Assal by the rebels, the ministry statement suggests,
outlining the 100-page report handed over
to the UN by Russia.
The key points of
the report have been given as follows:
• the shell used
in the incident “does not belong to the standard ammunition of the Syrian
army and was crudely according to type and parameters of the rocket-propelled
unguided missiles manufactured in the north of Syria by the so-called Bashair
al-Nasr brigade”;
• RDX, which is
also known as hexogen or cyclonite, was used as the bursting charge for the shell,
and it is “not used in standard chemical munitions”;
• soil and shell
samples contain “the non-industrially synthesized nerve agent sarin and
diisopropylfluorophosphate,” which was “used by Western states for
producing chemical weapons during World War II.”
The findings of
the report are “extremely specific,” as they mostly consist of
scientific and technical data from probes’ analysis, the ministry stressed,
adding that this data can “substantially aid” the UN investigation of
the incident.
While focusing on
the Khan al-Assal attack on March 19, in which at least 26
civilians and Syrian army soldiers were killed, and 86 more were injured, the
Russian Foreign Ministry also criticized the “flawed selective approach”
of certain states in reporting the recent incidents of alleged chemical weapons
use in August.
The hype around
the alleged attack on the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta
showed “apparent attempts to cast a veil over the incidents of gas poisoning
of Syrian army soldiers on August 22, 24 and 25,” the ministry said, adding
that all the respective evidence was handed
to the UN by Syria.
The condition of
the soldiers who, according to Damascus, suffered poisoning after discovering tanks with
traces of sarin, has been examined and documented by the UN
inspectors, the ministry pointed out, adding that “any objective
investigation of the August 21 incident in eastern Ghouta is impossible without
the consideration of all these facts.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the UN investigators
are set to return to Syria to investigate several other cases of alleged
chemical weapons use, including the March 19 incident in Khan al-Assal.--------------------------
Source: Russia Today
Russia needs
convincing proof, not rumors, from UN experts that chemical weapons were used
in Syria, said the Russian president in an interview with First Channel and AP.
It is up to the UN Security Council to decide on the next course of action, he
said - READ MORE
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