Assad rejects chemical weapons charges

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President Bashar al-Assad Monday denied that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons, claiming that such accuastions were "insult to common sense." 

Syrian soldiers are seen at the battlefront of Jobar, near the capital of Damascus, on Aug. 24, 2013. Some Syrian soldiers on Saturday suffered suffocation after rebel militants released chemical substance around their hideouts near Damascus, the state-TV reported. [Bassem Tellawi/Xinhua]

Syrian soldiers are seen at the battlefront of Jobar, near the capital of Damascus, on Aug. 24, 2013. Some Syrian soldiers on Saturday suffered suffocation after rebel militants released chemical substance around their hideouts near Damascus, the state-TV reported. [Bassem Tellawi/Xinhua]

"Such accusations are political, and the reason for this was the series of victories by government forces over the terrorists," he said in an interview with Russian newspaper Izvestia.

"We are accused that the army has used chemical weapons in an area that is under the control of the alleged gunmen," Assad said, stressing that in fact, there is no clear line between the army and rebel militants in this area.

"How can the government use chemical, or any other weapons of mass destruction, in a place where its troops are concentrated. This is contrary to elementary logic," Assad said.

"From the very start of the crisis, the United States, France and Britain tried to carry out a military invasion, but unfortunately for them things took a different turn," he added.

Though tried hard to persuade other nations to stand on their side, they "failed to convince their people and the whole world that the policy they pursued in the Middle East was clever and useful," he said.

The president also warned the United States of failure if it dares to invade Syria, "as in all previous wars waged by them, from Vietnam to the present day."

The United States "was not able to convince his multi-ethnic people in the righteousness of the war, as well as to instill their ideology to other countries," he said.

The Syrian Government has granted access to UN inspectors, beginning Monday, to sites in the suburbs of Damascus where chemical weapons were allegedly used last week.

Syrian opposition last week claimed 1,300 people were killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs.

The Syrian civil war, which began in March 2011 between government forces and armed opposition seeking to oust Assad, has led to killings of more than 93,000 people and forced more than 1.7 million people to flee the country.

 

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