Terrorists Using Chemical Agents in Syria, Iraq: Russia

Speaking at a news briefing in the capital city of Moscow on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow possesses information that Daesh (also known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and other militant groups in the Middle East region “have indeed gained access to components and technologies enabling them to produce” the agents (CWAs) “at least at an amateurish level.”

Zakharova went on to say that the terrorists have also started using the CWAs “in Syria and Iraq increasingly more often.”

In the past the terrorists were said to be using chlorine as a chemical weapon, she said, adding, however, that “now there is reliable and confirmed information indicating that they are employing real chemical warfare agents, such as sulfur mustard.”

The Russian diplomat further expressed concerns over the use of the CWAs by the Takfiri elements, emphasizing that they are using the weapons “for provocative purposes, including with the purpose of discrediting the Syrian government in the international community’s eyes.”

Referring to a recent report by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which confirmed the use of sulfur mustard near Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo in August this year, Zakharova also noted that while the report has not mentioned direct indications to Daesh, but with a high degree of certainty the terrorist group was behind the attack, Press TV reported.