A senior Syrian government minister has accused the UK of being involved in faking a chemical attack on civilians in order to justify air strikes against the regime. Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told ITV News Correspondent Dan Rivers that Britain was "absolutely" involved in faking an attack in Douma. The alleged incident on April 7 is said to have killed 75 people. </s> A senior Syrian government minister has accused the UK of being involved in faking a chemical attack on civilians in order to justify air strikes against the regime. Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, told ITV News Britain was "absolutely" involved in faking an attack in Douma, which a number of Western governments say killed civilians including women and children. The alleged incident on the 7th April reportedly killed 75 people, leading to airstrikes by the US, France and UK, targeting several sites linked to Syria's chemical weapons programme.

"We are not aware that women and children were killed. We think this is a theatre. That was made to be used by the western powers to launch such an attack against Syria," Mekdad told ITV News correspondent Dan Rivers. "I believe what our doctors who were there in the hospital, in that minute, they were saying they did not see any dead person," he added.

"I believe our doctors, not international propaganda." The head of a medical relief agency operating in Syria has claimed medics who responded to the attack have been subjected to “extreme intimidation” by Syrian officials. People who had told ITV News they lost their children in the alleged attack were "forced to give such testimonies" Mekdad added.

Asked about the videos of dead bodies: " I think the bodies may be imported from somewhere else. I believe that, because this was a big lie." He accused Britain of supporting terrorist groups in Syria, saying they are "part and parcel of this conspiracy" against Syria. Britain's UN ambassador has previously denied a Russian military claim that the UK staged the attack in Douma, calling it "bizarre" and "a blatant lie." Inspectors from the Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have now visited one of the sites of the alleged attack, but their visit was delayed. Russia has been accused of delaying them in order to cover up any evidence of chemical weapons use. Inspectors were also shot at when they approached the area. Although the Syrian government claims to have retaken control of Douma from rebels, Mekdad claimed there are still "sleeping cells" from terrorist groups there. The OPCW should have results from their first inspection within a week. </s> A senior Syrian government minister has accused the UK of being involved in faking a chemical attack on civilians in order to justify air strikes against the regime.

Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, told ITV News Britain was "absolutely" involved in faking an attack in Douma, which a number of Western governments say killed civilians including women and children.

The alleged incident on the 7th April reportedly killed 75 people, leading to airstrikes by the US, France and UK, targeting several sites linked to Syria's chemical weapons programme.

"We are not aware that women and children were killed. We think this is a theatre. That was made to be used by the western powers to launch such an attack against Syria," Mekdad told ITV News correspondent Dan Rivers.

"I believe what our doctors who were there in the hospital, in that minute, they were saying they did not see any dead person," he added.

"I believe our doctors, not international propaganda."

The head of a medical relief agency operating in Syria has claimed medics who responded to the attack have been subjected to "extreme intimidation" by Syrian officials.

People who had told ITV News they lost their children in the alleged attack were "forced to give such testimonies" Mekdad added.

Asked about the videos of dead bodies: " I think the bodies may be imported from somewhere else. I believe that, because this was a big lie."

He accused Britain of supporting terrorist groups in Syria, saying they are "part and parcel of this conspiracy" against Syria.

Britain's UN ambassador has previously denied a Russian military claim that the UK staged the attack in Douma, calling it "bizarre" and "a blatant lie."Inspectors from the Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have now visited one of the sites of the alleged attack, but their visit was delayed. Russia has been accused of delaying them in order to cover up any evidence of chemical weapons use.

Inspectors were also shot at when they approached the area. Although the Syrian government claims to have retaken control of Douma from rebels, Mekdad claimed there are still "sleeping cells" from terrorist groups there.

The OPCW should have results from their first inspection within a week. </s> Video report by ITV News Correspondent Dan Rivers

Additional reporting by ITV News Editor Jonathan Wald

A senior Syrian government minister has accused the UK of being involved in faking a chemical attack on civilians in order to justify air strikes against the regime. Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, told ITV News Britain was "absolutely" involved in faking an attack in Douma, which a number of Western governments say killed civilians including women and children. The alleged incident on the 7th April reportedly killed 75 people, leading to airstrikes by the US, France and UK, targeting several sites linked to Syria's chemical weapons programme.

Missiles over Damascus after the US and allies launched airstrikes against Syria Credit: PA

"We are not aware that women and children were killed. We think this is a theatre. That was made to be used by the western powers to launch such an attack against Syria," Mekdad told ITV News correspondent Dan Rivers. "I believe what our doctors who were there in the hospital, in that minute, they were saying they did not see any dead person," he added.

"I believe our doctors, not international propaganda." The head of a medical relief agency operating in Syria has claimed medics who responded to the attack have been subjected to “extreme intimidation” by Syrian officials. People who had told ITV News they lost their children in the alleged attack were "forced to give such testimonies" Mekdad added.

Explosions from Syrian government attacks on Douma Credit: AP

Asked about the videos of dead bodies: " I think the bodies may be imported from somewhere else. I believe that, because this was a big lie." He accused Britain of supporting terrorist groups in Syria, saying they are "part and parcel of this conspiracy" against Syria. Britain's UN ambassador has previously denied a Russian military claim that the UK staged the attack in Douma, calling it "bizarre" and "a blatant lie." The Foreign and Commonwealth office has called the latest accusations "baseless and absurd".

The Syrian regime's allegations are baseless and absurd. This is a regime that uses chemical weapons against its own people, denies humanitarian access to starving communities, and frustrates the UN-mandated peace process. The regime's credibility is at rock-bottom, and its hopeless lies and disinformation deserve nothing but contempt. – FCO statement </s> A senior Syrian government minister has claimed Britain was 'absolutely' involved in faking a chemical attack in Douma to justify the western air strikes against Assad's regime.

The suspected chlorine assault is believed to have killed around 75 civilians including children and led to US, UK and French airstrikes targeting major areas linked to Syria's chemical weapons programme.

Deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, said: 'We are not aware that women and children were killed. We think this is a theatre.'

'That was made to be used by the western powers to launch such an attack against Syria,' Mekdad told ITV News.

'I believe what our doctors who were there in the hospital, in that minute, they were saying they did not see any dead person,' he added. 'I believe our doctors, not international propaganda.'

Yet the head of the largest medical relief agency in Syria claims those who treated patients after the attack were told their families would be targeted if they spoke out.

Doctors were subjected to 'extreme intimidation' by Syrian officials who demanded their silence, report the Guardian.

Mekdad said those who told of their heartbreak after losing their children in the alleged attack 'forced to give such testimonies'.

Asked about the videos of dead bodies he said: 'I think the bodies may be imported from somewhere else. I believe that, because this was a big lie.'

The minister also accused Britain of helping terrorist groups in Syria and being a part of this 'conspiracy'.

It comes after Russia's military chiefs claimed to have evidence that Britain had 'direct involvement' in staging the suspected chemical attack in Syria.

Britain's UN ambassador Karen Pierce said the suggestion was 'grotesque' and a 'blatant lie' following an emergency meeting of the Security Council.

Inspectors have now finally visited one of the sites of the alleged attack report ITV - but their visit was heavily delayed after they were shot at when approaching the area.

The Syria government says it has retaken control of Douma from rebels, but Mekdad said 'sleeping cells' from terrorist groups remain there.

Russia has also been accused of delaying the inspectors in order to hide any evidence of chemical weapons use.

The OPCW plan to have results from their first inspection within a week. </s> Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday denied allegations that Russia is working with the Syrian government to keep international inspectors away from the chemical weapons attack site in Douma so the evidence can be destroyed.

“As for yesterday’s statement, which said that the US has evidence to prove that Russia and Syria were delaying OPCW experts from gaining access to the town of Douma – if they really have it, let them present it,” Lavrov said at a press conference.

“We have more than once presented the evidence that we have, including pictures and people’s interviews. As for our counterparts, we have only heard allegations about evidence, be it the alleged Douma incident or the Salisbury incident,” Lavrov continued, the latter a reference to the attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal with nerve agents in Britain.

Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) attempted to enter Douma to examine the chemical attack sites this week but were kept away by security concerns, including gunfire and an angry mob appearing at one site.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday said it has obtained “credible information” that Russian and Syrian officials are working together to deny inspectors access to Douma, buying time for the attack sites to be “sanitized” and incriminating evidence removed.

British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce echoed these accusations on Friday, saying there is a “possibility” that Russia and Syria have tampered with evidence in Douma.

“We look to the Russians and the Syrians to uphold the promises they made to the Security Council last week that the inspectors would be allowed in, that they would be escorted, that they would be safe and that they could have free access,” she said.

Pierce did not indicate the British government has any evidence that Russia and Syria are deliberately holding back inspectors or tampering with evidence at the sites. Instead, she stressed the importance of allowing the OPCW team to conduct its work “expeditiously” and file a thorough report.

On Thursday evening, British Prime Minister Theresa May accused the Russians of running a “disinformation campaign” to cover up the chemical weapons abuses in Douma and Salisbury.

“This disinformation campaign is not just aimed at social media and the UK – it is intended to undermine the actual institutions and processes of the rules-based system, such as the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons. We must do all we can at every turn to challenge this,” May said.

This week, the director of the largest medical relief agency working on Syria, the Union of Medical care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) said that doctors who treated patients in Douma were intimidated and threatened by agents of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, including threats of violence to their families if they tell international inspectors what they have seen.

“There has been a very heavy security presence on the ground ever since the attack and they have been targeting doctors and medics in a very straightforward way. Any medic who tried to leave Douma was searched so vigorously, especially for samples. At one medical point, seven casualties were taken away. The Russian military police were heavily involved. They were directing things,” said one physician.

“We were receiving threats since the siege began, prior to the chemical weapons attack. When the attack took place, things became much more dangerous. They’re wiping out evidence that would prove the crime, and they are forcing doctors and residents who are witnesses to say that nothing took place,” said another medic.

AFP reported on Thursday that photographs circulated by Russia and the Assad regime that purportedly showed “White Helmet” rescue volunteers faking the chemical attack in Douma were themselves fakes. The photos were taken from the set of a propaganda film supported by the Syrian culture ministry that was completed and screened over a month before the chemical attack. </s> Former UK Ambassador to Syria: Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack Was Staged By Islamic Jihadi Propagandists, It Is Likely No One Died

The former UK Ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford, told BBC Radio Scotland regarding the alleged Douma chemical weapons attack:
• The Syrian government is probably not guilty
• The sources claiming there was a chemical weapons attack are pro-Islamist jihadi propaganda outlets
• The incident was probably staged, and it is likely that no one actually died

Filed under: Al Qaeda, ISIL, Nazi Israel, US Congress, US Foreign Policy, USA, War on Syria, Wars for Israel | </s> BEIRUT: An alleged chemical attack in Syria's rebel-held Douma has sparked international outrage, with Washington warning on Sunday (Apr 8) of possible military action, while Damascus and Moscow said the reports were mere "fabrications".

Syria's White Helmets, who act as first responders in rebel-held areas of Syria, said the attack took place late on Saturday using "poisonous chlorine gas".

"More than 500 cases - the majority of whom are women and children - were brought to local medical centres with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent," according to a joint statement issued by the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and the White Helmets.

Patients showed signs of "respiratory distress, central cyanosis, excessive oral foaming, corneal burns, and the emission of chlorine-like odour", it said.

The statement said civil defence volunteers had found 42 casualties dead in their homes "with similar clinical symptoms of excessive oral foaming, cyanosis, and corneal burns". Six others had died while receiving treatment.

Footage posted online by the White Helmets, which was not possible to verify, showed victims with yellowed skin crumpled on the ground and foaming at the mouth.

Douma is the last remaining opposition-held town in Eastern Ghouta, once the rebels' main bastion outside Damascus but now ravaged by a seven-week regime assault.

Since Feb 18, Syrian and Russian forces have waged a fierce military onslaught.

WHO WAS BEHIND IT?

While no one has yet provided evidence of its involvement, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons in the country's seven-year civil war.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the regime carried out a wave of air strikes on Douma on Friday and Saturday that killed nearly 100 people, including many who suffered breathing difficulties.

Syria and its Russian ally denounced the claims as "fabrications", with Russia warning of potential "dire consequences" if they were used as a pretext for military action.

HOW HAS THE WORLD REACTED?

US President Donald Trump warned there would be a "big price to pay".

"Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," Trump wrote on Twitter. "President (Vladimir) Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay."

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he was "particularly alarmed" by the attack, adding that if confirmed, the use of chemical weapons would be "abhorrent".

Britain called for an investigation into what it said were the "deeply disturbing" reports, and Turkey, which has backed rebels against Assad, said it had a "strong suspicion" the Syrian president was to blame.

France has repeatedly said that evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria could prompt military action and said Sunday it would "do its duty" following the latest allegations. It called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting.

Pope Francis described the allegations as "terrible news", saying: "Nothing, nothing can justify the use of such devices of extermination against defenceless people and populations."

WILL MILITARY ACTION BE TAKEN?

White House security adviser Tom Bossert refused to rule out US military action in response to the alleged chemical strike. "I wouldn't take anything off the table," he said.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the reports, if confirmed, "are horrifying and demand an immediate response by the international community."

Prominent Republican senator Lindsey Graham warned Trump that a failure to act now could leave him in a weakened posture internationally.

"It's a defining moment in his presidency," Graham said.

A chemical attack with the nerve agent sarin in the Eastern Ghouta enclave in August 2013 killed 1,429 people, including children, the US says.

Sarin was also detected in an April 2017 attack on the northwestern town of Khan Sheikhun that killed more than 80 people. The agent was released after an air strike.

Helicopter-dropped chlorine-filled munitions have been increasingly used by the regime as the conflict has dragged on, according to a 2017 report by Human Rights Watch. </s> Following an emergency Cabinet session, the British government called the Douma incident “a shocking and barbaric act” likely perpetrated by Damascus, and pledged to “coordinate an international response."

"Cabinet agreed that the Assad regime has a track record of the use of chemical weapons and it is highly likely that the regime is responsible for Saturday's attack,” a statement from Downing Street said, using the same phrase it deployed following the Sergei Skripal poisoning last month.

The statement left the path clear for both a peaceful and military resolution.

“Cabinet agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged. Cabinet agreed on the need to take action to alleviate humanitarian distress and to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime,” it said.

It also suggested that Prime Minister Theresa May will continue to lead the West’s next move together with its “allies,” US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. All three have exchanged calls and issued the loudest condemnations over the past week.

Several hours before, Macron told a TV interviewer that he has “evidence” of the Syrian government’s culpability for Douma. On Wednesday, Trump appeared to suggest that an airstrike inside Syria was imminent, but on Thursday he appeared to take a more ambiguous tone, suggesting in a tweet than an attack could happen “very soon or not so soon at all.”

READ MORE: OPCW team arrives in Syria to investigate alleged attack

Meanwhile, Russia and Syria, which says that it was not to blame and that much of the evidence was fabricated, have insisted that international parties wait at least until the conclusion from chemical weapons experts. An OPCW team is set to start its investigation in Douma on Saturday.

Moscow has also appealed for a diplomatic way out of the impasse, but three different resolutions that were put forward in the United Nations Security Council this week were vetoed.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad accuses the United Kingdom of faking evidence of a chemical weapons attack in Douma.