Russian MP: US Chemical Weapons Report in Syria ‘Fabricated’

A US government report concluding Syria has used chemical weapons against militants is a fabrication, a senior Russian lawmaker said Friday.

“Information about the usage of chemical weapons by (Syrian President Bashar) Assad is fabricated in the same way as the lie about (Saddam) Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (in Iraq),” Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee, said on Twitter, Al-Manar reported.

US President Barack Obama “is going the same way” as former President George W. Bush did then, Pushkov said.

The White House said on Thursday it now believes with “high confidence” that Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons many times during the two-year conflict there, and vowed to boost US aid to the armed opposition fighting to remove Assad from power.

White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama had decided to provide further support, including military support, for Syrian opposition forces as a result of its conclusion that government forces has used such chemical weapons.