Inspectors in Syria to probe alleged chemical attack

Inspectors have arrived in Damascus at the request of the Syrian government to determine whether chemicals were used in a town near the capital, an excuse used by the US and its allies to bomb the Arab country before any investigation.

Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the United Nations chemical watchdog, arrived at a Damascus hotel on Saturday.

The United States, Britain, and France fired more than 100 missiles targets near Damascus and Homs a day earlier, blaming the Syrian government for an alleged chemical attack against the town of Douma.

The Syrian government surrendered its chemical weapons stockpile during a process monitored by the OPCW in 2014.

Shortly after the attack, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Konstantin Kosachyov said the strikes were highly likely an attempt to hamper or block the OPCW’s mission. He called the attacks an outrageous violation of international law and a groundless attack on a sovereign government.

“A pre-designed scenario is being implemented,” Russia’s Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said. “The US – the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons – has no moral right to blame other countries.”

The Russian military said Britain was behind the alleged chemical attack.

“Today, the Russian Defense Ministry has other evidence proving the United Kingdom’s direct involvement in the organization of this provocation in Eastern Ghouta,” ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

He said the Western-backed rescue group known as the White Helmets had been instructed by London in the days before the attack to plan a “provocation.”