Terrorists, White Helmets Move Toxic Substances to New Location in Northwestern Syria

The Arabic-language al-Mayadeen TV Channel reported that the terrorists, in cooperation with the White Helmets, transferred poisonous materials from the town of Jisr al-Shughour to the settlement of Khirbet al-Amoud, both located in the rebel-held province of Idlib.

In the meantime, the Arabic-language website of Sputnik reported that the White Helmets have completed training a sum of 60 people, including more than 16 women, for using them in two fake videos of chemical attacks filmed by Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) and al-Turkistani Islamic Party terrorists in al-Ghaab plain and Jisr al-Shughour.

Local sources said, meanwhile, that Tahrir al-Sham has arrested tens of women and children in a refugee camp in the town of Salqin in Idlib province.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mikdad said on Tuesday that Damascus has used chemical weapons in its war against foreign-backed terrorists and it would never use any such banned munitions in the future.

The high-ranking Syrian official made the remarks at the signing ceremony of a book at the al-Assad National Library in capital Damascus.

The book's title in English is “Syria and the Chemicals with Facts and Documents,” which has been written in Arabic by lawmaker, Ahmad Abdul-Salam Mar’ai.

Mikdad, who heads the National Committee on Implementing Syria’s Commitments according to Convention on Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, affirmed that his country’s decision to join the convention was made “freely and willfully within framework of its sovereignty, independence and response to the developments of situations in Syria, the region and the world.”

Syria surrendered its stockpiles of chemical weapons in 2013 to a joint mission led by the US and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which oversaw the destruction of the weaponry. Damascus has consistently denied using chemical weapons over the past years of conflict in the country.

Western governments and their allies, however, have never stopped pointing the finger at Damascus whenever an apparent chemical attack takes place.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mikdad said using banned white phosphors munitions by the US-led military coalition in Syria’s troubled eastern province of Deir Ezzur earlier this month was another evidence showing that the current US administration and the previous administrations resort to use any weapon that might serve their interests.

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