A group sent by Saudi Arabia from Jordanian territory is responsible for the August 21 chemical weapons provocation that was staged in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus, said Russian diplomatic sources.
“Having analyzed this information, which was received from a whole range of sources, we are getting a picture that confirms that the criminal provocation in Eastern Ghouta was committed by a specialized group that was sent by Saudi Arabia from the territory of Jordan and acted under the cover of the Liva al-Islam group,” one of the sources said.
© Photo: Voice of Russia
Another source said that “the chemical attack on Eastern Ghouta on August 21 and all the subsequent developments literally caused a stir in Syrian society, and people reacted painfully to the distorted interpretation of those events given by a number of media outlets and politicians.”
“That is why Syrians whose political views differ dramatically, including the opposition’s militants themselves, are actively trying to tell everything they know about this crime and the forces who masterminded and sponsored it to diplomats and international organization officials who continue working in Syria,” he said.
Moscow and Damascus contact each other daily on chemical weapons destruction – Syrian minister
Moscow and Damascus discuss details of the Syrian chemical weapons destruction plan almost daily, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said in an interview with the RIA Novosti news agency.
“We maintain permanent, almost daily contact concerning those details,” he said.
The minister pointed out that a special interdepartmental group had been set up under the Syrian government to decide how exactly the country’s chemical arsenals would be eliminated.
“Whether to destroy chemical weapons on the scene or take them out to other countries for scrapping will be determined by experts and the interdepartmental group which was formed by the Syrian government and comprises representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry. It’s a technical issue,” al-Zoabi said.
Syria chemical weapons: used by terrorists, smuggled to Iraq – Russian FM
Russia has evidence that chemical weapons components are used by terrorists in Syria and smuggled into Iraq for possible provocations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, reports VoR’s Polina Chernitsa.
“We read reports and hear from various sources, semi-official and trustworthy, that some official representatives of a number of the countries of the region surrounding Syria allegedly established contacts and meet regularly with leaders of Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups, and also that those radicals have some components of chemical weapons maybe found in Syria or maybe brought from somewhere, and not just on the Syrian territory, but also that chemical weapons components have been brought to Iraq and that provocations are being prepared there,” Lavrov said at a news conference following talks with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid.
All that has intensified after the UN Security Council passed a Russian-US-proposed resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons and the Geneva-2 conference, the Russian minister said.
Sponsors of Syrian opposition should stop attempts to disrupt Geneva-2
Sponsors of the Syrian opposition should stop attempts to disrupt the Geneva-2 international conference on Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
“There are enough provocateurs, and there will probably be more provocations. What’s important now is that it shouldn’t be them who calls the tune but Russia and the United States as the initiators of Geneva-2 along with the United Nations secretary general to whom a request to that effect was submitted in New York,” Lavrov said.
He urged all the Syrian forces to agree to attend Geneva-2 without preliminary conditions in keeping with the Geneva communique signed last June.
Those who sponsor and finance the Syrian opposition “should realize their responsibility and stop attempts to disrupt preparations for the conference in a bid to reanimate a military scenario,” Lavrov said.
Syrians are able to agree implementation of Geneva communique
Russia hopes that the Syrians will be able to find common ground on the implementation of the June 30 2012 Geneva Communique, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.
He reiterated calls for the Geneva-2 international conference on Syria to be convened in the nearest future.
“We hope that consultations that are now being conducted by the UN secretary general and his special representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, will produce positive results enabling us to organize initial events needed to launch this conference. It’s important that all the Syrian factions be fully represented at the talks for the future agreements to be really stable and lasting,” Lavrov said.
Copyright Voice of Russia, 2013
