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HomeUncategorizedRussia brands US warning to Syria over chemical weapons ‘Unacceptable’

Russia brands US warning to Syria over chemical weapons ‘Unacceptable’

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Bashar al Assad AV

Russia denounced a US warning that the Syrian leadership will pay a heavy price for any chemical weapons attack, and dismissed White House assertions that a strike was being prepared as “unacceptable”.

The White House said late on Monday the preparations in Syria were similar to actions before an April 4 chemical attack which killed dozens of civilians and prompted US President Donald Trump to order a missile strike on a Syrian air base.

But Russia, which is President Bashar al-Assad’s main backer in Syria’s six-year-old civil war and has used its veto power on the United Nations Security Council several times to shield his government, challenged the U.S. intelligence.

“I am not aware of any information about a threat that chemical weapons can be used,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters.

“Certainly, we consider such threats to the legitimate leadership of the Syrian Arab Republic unacceptable.”

Russian officials have privately described the war in Syria as the biggest source of tension between Moscow and Washington, and the cruise missile strike ordered by Trump in April raised the risk of confrontation between them.

The Syrian military and foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the White House statement though a Syrian state-run television station, al-Ikhbariya, said the White House’s allegations were fabricated.

White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on the intelligence that prompted the statement, or on possible US plans if Syria carried out such an attack.
“If … Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack usingchemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

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