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MOSCOW/TEHRAN. – Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday warned of future chemical weapons “provocations” in Syria that would be used to frame Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad.
“We have information from various sources that such provocations – I cannot call them otherwise – are being prepared in other regions of Syria, including in the southern outskirts of Damascus, where they are again planning to throw some kind of substance and accuse Syrian official authorities of using it,” Putin said during a televised press conference.
Amid increased belligerence toward Damascus, Iran, another Syrian ally, has called for an international investigation by impartial parties. President Rouhani put forth the idea on Saturday. He has also condemned the use of chemical weapons by any party.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has been holding telephone conversations with world leaders to stress the need for a fact-finding probe.
The Iranian foreign minister has also talked to European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, as well as his Russian, Omani, Syrian, and Algerian counterparts over the matter.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said yesterday that foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Syria would hold a meeting in Moscow this week to discuss the US strikes against Syria.
“A trilateral meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Syrian minister Walid al-Muallem and Iranian minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is planned for the end of this week,” Zakharova said. Using the Idlib tragedy as a pretext, US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airbase. – AFP/Press TV.
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