“Early morning of August 21, a homemade rocket carrying an unknown chemical warfare agent was launched on the eastern suburbs of Damascus. The missile resembled the rocket which was used by the rebels on March 19 in Khan al-Asal,” said Lukashevich.

 “Moscow believes it is important to carry out an objective and professional investigation of what happened”, the diplomat continued. “It looks like an attempt to create a pretext for the UN Security Council to side with the opponents of Assad’s regime and thus undermine Geneva-2 talks which are now scheduled for August 28”.

 “Once again we urge all those who have the opportunity to influence the armed extremists to make every effort to put an end to provocations with the use of chemical agents,” Lukashevich asserted.

 Noteworthy is the fact that “the biased regional media immediately, as if on demand, began an aggressive information attack, placing the responsibility for the attaks on Assad’s government. All of this can only suggest that we are dealing with a pre-planned provocation,” Lukashevich sttaed.

 “This is supported by the fact that the criminal act was committed near Damascus at the very moment when UN investigators began their work in Syria”, the diplomat concluded.

 Syria chemical weapons use reports are pre-planned provocation – Russian Foreign Ministry

 Information that Syrian authorities used chemical weapons resembles a provocation planned in advanced, says Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

 “The fact that agenda-driven regional mass media have begun an aggressive attack at once, as if on command, laying all responsibility on the government, draws attention,” the ministry quoted Lukashevich as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

 “It is apparently no coincidence that information like this regarding the authorities using chemical weapons has been thrown in before, including in the past days, citing some opposition sources, however it was not confirmed later,” Lukashevich said.

 “All this can only lead us to think that we are dealing again with a provocation planned in advance,” Lukashevich said.

 “The fact that the criminal action near Damascus was carried out just when the mission of UN experts to investigate the statements on possible chemical weapons use there has successfully begun its work in Syria points to this,” the statement said.

 “Moscow thinks that it is important to hold an objective and professional investigation of what has happened,” Lukashevich said.

 “We are urging again all those who have the opportunity to influence armed extremists to make every effort to put an end to provocations with the use of poisonous chemical substances,” the statement said.

 “In the past days, the governmental forces carried out intense activity against militants on various fronts, including the eastern suburbs of Damascus,” Lukashevich said.

 “A home-made rocket with a poisonous chemical substance yet unknown, the same as one the terrorists used in Khan al-Assal on March 19, struck this area early on August 21 from a position taken by insurgents. Casualties among civilians are reported,” Lukashevich said.

 Reports on chemical weapons use near Damascus aimed at confusing UN observers – Syrian Ambassador

 Media reports that the government forces allegedly used chemical weapons near Damascus are not true and aimed at confusing international observers, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said.

 “This is not true,” Haddad told Interfax on Wednesday when commenting on the reports. “All reports regarding this issue are false and aimed at confusing international observers,” the diplomat said.

 The Syrian forces have never used, do not use and will not use chemical weapons even if they had them,” Haddad said.

 “All reports on this topic are aimed at repeating the Iraqi scenario in Syria where there were allegedly weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

 After the information regarding the use of chemical weapons in the city of Khan al-Assal on March 19 emerged, Syria asked the UN to investigate these reports, Haddad said.

 “But there was an attempt to politicize this investigation by one of the superpowers supporting terrorists in our country,” he said.

 After Damascus agreed to allow UN observers to investigate the March incident, terrorists committed a massacre in northern Syria, which claimed the lives of 450 Kurds, Haddad said.

 The members of the UN committee investigating incidents of chemical weapons use arrived in Syria on August 18.

 Dubai TV channel Al Arabiya has informed that the Syrian troops had allegedly bombarded the suburbs of Damascus with missiles containing toxic chemical substances. 200 or 500 victims are reported. T

 here is no evidence of these reports and the information seems to be another monstrous provocation on the part of the channel, which is financed by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. Al Arabiya, created in 2003, was repeatedly accuses of lying.

 In February, the channel reported that Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria, Faisal al-Miqdad allegedly fled from Damascus to the UAE.

 Since then, al-Miqdad, who occupies his previous post, has dozens of times met with foreign journalists in Damascus, held press conferences and given interviews to CNN.

  Source: TVOR