Syria Strike Was Aimed at Disrupting Work of OPCW Investigators: Nasrallah

Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement Seyed Hassan Nasrallah said that a recent US-led strike on Syria was aimed at disrupting the work of international investigators looking into whether the Arab country used chemical weapons in the town of Douma.

News ID: 69742

Date: 16 April 2018 - 13:30

TEHRAN (Defapress) – “If this attack was aimed at raising the morale of armed groups, it actually frustrated them!’ Nasrallah said addressing his supporters via a televised speech from the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Sunday evening.

He further noted that Washington and its allies would repeat such a military aggression in case Syrian army forces and allied fighters from popular defense groups score victories against Takfiri militant groups.

“American soldiers are aware of the fact any ground operation in Syria would not be an easy task to undertake; and this is why they are avoiding it,” Nasrallah highlighted.

He stated that the United States, Britain and France rushed to launch missile strikes against Syria because they knew their claims of a chemical weapons attack against the city of Douma, located about 10 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus, were groundless.

“They wanted to finish off the scenario before international chemical weapons experts could reach the alleged site,” the Hezbollah secretary general said.

Investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were expected to begin work Saturday on determining whether a chemical attack occurred.

The US, Britain and France launched airstrikes against multiple places in Syria early Saturday following US President Donald Trump's order despite international warnings against further escalation of the situation in the Arab country and across the Middle East.

The US-led military coalition has accused the Syrian government of having allegedly attacked the militant-held town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta region on April 7 and claimed that the Saturday air strikes had been aimed at deterring Syria's further use of chemical weapons.

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