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08Apr17

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Zakharova: US strike on Syria unrelated to attempts to learn truth about chemical weapons

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The U.S. strikes on the Syrian aerodrome, into which it had planned an investigation, is not related to attempts to learn about chemical weapons in Syria, spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova told the Rossiya 1 television channel on Saturday.

"Only recently the Americans and their western allies demanded inspectors sent, some investigation begun into the aircraft which delivered strikes on the militants' depots and production facilities," she said. "They demanded a probe into those aircraft and the equipment used in the strikes, and then they deliver strikes right on that equipment."

"This is absolutely unrelated either to attempts to learn what has happened to the chemical weapons, or to make whatever steps towards the investigation," she added.

On April 6, following an order from the U.S. President Donald Trump, the U.S. armed forces fired a total of 59 Tomahawk subsonic cruise missiles on a military airfield in Syria's Homs Governorate. The strike came as a response to the chemical attack in Idlib on April 4 and targeted what Washington claims was a starting location for the attack.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the airstrike left four Syrian servicemen dead, two missing and four injured. Syria's governmental SANA news agency said six people died, but later reported the deaths of nine civilians. On that day, the ministry said, the Syrian air force bombarded shops, where the militants produced ammunition with poisonous substances, that were supplied to Iraq and used in Aleppo.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow views the incident as aggression against a sovereign state, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described it as an act of aggression under a far-fetched pretext.

[Source: Itar Tass, Moscow, 08Apr17]

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This document has been published on 10Apr17 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.