Russia Pledges to Keep Support for Syria in Anti-terror Battles

Russia has vowed to keep up support for the Syrian army in its fight against terrorism, calling for the establishment of a fact-finding mission to probe a reported chemical attack in the Arab country’s northwestern Idlib Province.

“The Russian Federation and its military are continuing…to support the anti-terrorism operation and liberation of the country, which is being conducted by the Syrian armed forces,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

He was responding to a question whether Russian policy had changed following the suspected chemical weapons attack, which left over 70 people dead in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib on Tuesday morning.

The militants operating in the area were quick to accuse Syrian government forces of striking the town using chemical munitions.

A number of Western states also sided with the militants and repeated the claims, which have not been backed up by any evidence.

Damascus, however, strongly denied using “any chemical or toxic material” in the town, adding that it “has not used nor will use in any place or time, neither in past or in future.”

The Russian Defense Ministry also said the Syrian air force recently hit a depot used by terrorists to make and store ammunition, including chemical weapons, at the site of the incident.

Syria has already turned over its entire chemical stockpile under a deal negotiated by Russia and the US, in a process overseen by the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Peskov further reiterated the Russian Defense Ministry’s report that the chemical contamination, if any, may have been caused by damage to a militant chemical weapons storage site.

Peskov’s remarks came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said it was time for Russia to think carefully about its support for Assad.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that the Security Council should urge the OPCW to launch a fact-finding mission to look into the incident provided that full access to the incident site, which is controlled by militants, is allowed.