Syria dismisses ‘false accusations’ by France, US over 2013 Ghouta attack

The attack in the Ghouta district of the Syrian capital took place on August 21, leaving hundreds of people dead.

At the time, the Syrian government blamed the attack on foreign-backed terrorists fighting army forces in different parts of the country. It rejected allegations of any involvement, saying that the government would never use chemical weapons against its own people.

On the 10th anniversary of the incident, France and the US issued separate statements repeating those allegations and promising “justice” and “punishment” for the perpetrators as well as “crimes” by the Syrian government.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Saturday (August 26) condemned the French and American statements over their “false accusations” regarding the use of chemical weapons in 2013 and “other fabricated and forged incidents.”

“What the French and American foreign ministries said in the two statements is inseparable from the previous campaign of misinformation and lies, which confirms the participation of the two countries and other countries in orchestrating this heinous crime, within the framework of their full partnership in the direct and indirect terrorist attacks on Syria,” the country’s SANA news agency quoted the Syrian Foreign Ministry as saying.

“These statements aim to disguise the real criminal and cover up the involvement of France and the US and their responsibility in the incident of terrorist groups using chemical weapons which took place in Eastern Ghouta in August 2013 and other incidents.”

In its Saturday statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry accused the US and France of supporting terrorist groups and providing them with materials and chemical weapons used in all the incidents that took place in Syria over the past years.

According to SANA, the ministry affirmed that US and French officials “must be held accountable because they allied with terrorist organizations, participated in the Syrian bloodshed, and practiced and are still practicing the policy of starving the Syrian people via terrorism and unilateral coercive measures.”

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