Tabnak – More than two
weeks after the US conducted a missile airstrike against a Syrian airbase with
the pretext of "punishing” Damascus over an alleged chemical attack, American
officials are continuing their allegations in this regard. This is while,
anti-terrorist operations are still going on in Syria and the situation on the
ground is still evolving.
In the latest allegation
against the Syrian government, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that
the Syrian government has retained an unspecified amount of chemical weapons
and dispersed its aircraft after a US cruise-missile attack this month.
"There can be no doubt in
the international community’s mind that Syria has retained chemical weapons in
violation of its agreement and its statement that it had removed them all.
There is no longer any doubt,” the Washington Post quoted Mattis as saying.
The US official declined
to reveal how many chemical weapons Syria has held on to, but said that the
issue would have to be taken up diplomatically.
This is while, according
to the Los Angeles Times, even an Israeli army officer told local reporters
earlier this week that most of the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile was either
removed or destroyed after 2013. The Syrian government itself has persistently
declared that it has no more chemical weapons after an international body
monitored their transfer outside the country.
At the same time, Syrian
President Bashar Assad said in an interview to the Sputnik News that the
Western media deliberately exaggerate the number of people killed in the Syrian
conflict to create a "humanitarian pretext” for a possible intervention in the
war-torn country.
Moreover, speaking about
chemical weapons allegedly possessed by terrorist groups, Assad said that he is
"100 percent” sure that the extremists receive them "directly from Turkey.” He
added that "there was evidence regarding this” and "many parties and parliament
members in Turkey… questioned the government regarding those allegations.”
Speaking about the US
strike on the Shayrat airbase that followed the chemical incident in Khan
Shaykhun, the Syrian president said that government forces' ability to defend
against such attacks had been reduced by terrorist assaults, which destroyed
more than 50 percent of the country’s air defense systems.
In another development
regarding Syria, Fox News reported that in the wake of increased airstrikes and
pressure applied from three directions by US-backed Syrian forces, ISIS terrorist
group has essentially moved its capital in Syria. Fox cited US officials as
saying that ISIS is now centered in Deir ez-Zur, roughly 90 miles southeast of
Raqqa.
All in all, with these
developments underway both on the ground and in the political arena, it’s still
hard to predict how the whole situation regarding the Syrian Crisis will become
in a mid of long-term time-table.
