Assad says reports of chemical weapons ‘100% fabrication’

DAMASCUS: Syria’s President Bashar al-assad said a suspected chemical weapons attack was a “fabrication” to justify a US strike on his forces, in an exclusive interview with AFP in Damascus.

Assad, whose country has been ravaged by six years of war, said his firepower had not been affected by the attack ordered by US President Donald Trump, but acknowledged further strikes were possible. He insisted his forces had turned over all their chemical weapons stocks years ago and would never use the banned arms.

The interview on Wednesday was his first since a suspected chemical attack killed dozens of civilians in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun.

“Definitely, 100% for us, it’s fabrication,” he said. “Our impression is that the West, mainly the US, is hand-in-glove with the terrorists. They fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack.”

Assad said evidence of the attack came only from “a branch of Al-qaeda,” referring to a former jihadist affiliate that is among the groups that control Idlib province, where Khan Sheikhun is located.

Images of the aftermath, showing victims convulsing and foaming at the mouth, sent shockwaves around the world.

But Assad insisted it was “not clear whether it happened or not, because “how can you verify a video? You have a lot of fake videos now.”

“We don’t know whether those dead children were killed in Khan Sheikhun. Were they dead at all?”

He said Khan Sheikhun had no strategic value and was not currently a battle front.

“This story is not convincing by any means.”

MISDIRECTED US STRIKE KILLS ALLIED FIGHTERS

A misdirected airstrike by the Us-led coalition earlier this week killed 18 allied fighters battling IS in northern Syria, the US military said on Thursday.

The US Central Command said coalition aircraft were given the wrong coordinates by their partner forces, the Syrian Democratic Forces, for a strike intended to target IS militants south of their Tabqa stronghold, near the extremists’ de facto capital, Raqqa.