MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry has denied reports of a chemical attack in the Idlib de-escalation area in Syria on May 19.
"The United States Department of State's desire to impose another lie on the world about certain 'indications' of 'new use of chemical weapons' in the Idlib de-escalation area can no longer perplex anyone," Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Friday.
"The Syrian government forces were the first to completely stop firing unilaterally on May 18 and did not fall for numerous attempts at provoking them over several days. Therefore, there were essentially no 'attacks' in the Idlib de-escalation area on May 19," Konashenkov said.
There are no other "opposition fighters" in those areas except for Jabhat al-Nusra (banned in Russia) terrorists holding them under their control, Konashenkov said.
"Therefore, all of the Department of State's attempts to make up another story about 'chemical attacks' are nothing but a political smokescreen for desperate attempts by the terrorists to destabilize the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area and provoke a humanitarian disaster there," he said.
The only 'sources' and 'witnesses' of the alleged 'chemical attack' in the said area are terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), Konashenkov said.
The U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told reporters on Thursday: "We do have numerous sources including interviews with those present during the attack that did report that a number of opposition fighters were taken to local hospitals and presented symptoms that were consistent with chemical exposure."