FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
General Rudskoy Affirms There Were No Chemical Arms at Syrian Sites Bombed by West
April 25, 2018 (EIRNS)—Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate, is quoted by TASS and Sputnik asserting that, based on samples taken from the sites, there were no chemical weapons at either the Barzeh scientific research center and the Han Shinsar facility in Syria struck by the U.S., U.K., French bombing attacks on April 14.
According to Sputnik, Rudskoy announced that the delegation from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that visited Douma on April 21 confirmed the absence of chemical weapons at Barzeh, although the OPCW itself has not yet made any official statement. According to its website, the OPCW delegation visited Douma for a second time today to collect samples from a different location, and will take them back to The Netherlands, from where they will be split up and sent to OPCW-designated labs for analysis.
The Russian mission to the OPCW has also informed the OPCW Technical Secretariat that it will hold a briefing for member states (“states’ parties”) at The Hague April 26, at which Syrian eyewitnesses will be present to report on the alleged Douma incident. The OPCW had recommended that such a briefing take place once the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) has completed its work. Russia said it has no intention of interfering with the FFM’s work, but will proceed with the scheduled briefing.
In his remarks, General Rudskoy emphasized that had there been chemical weapons present at the targetted sites, the bombings by Western nations would have killed tens of thousands of people from the toxic agents that would have been released. This didn’t occur; in fact, he said, people who worked at the facilities, as well as bystanders, walked around the area without protective gear and no one was poisoned. He also debunked U.S. claims that all its missiles had hit their targets, saying that only 22 out of 105 missiles actually did, and that 46 were taken out by Syrian air defense.
