UN Envoy: Militants in Syria Prepare Chemical Attack in Damascus

Local Editor

UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari warned that the armed gangs in Syria are conspiring to stage a chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs in order to later lay the blame on the Syrian government.

"Competent Syrian authorities intercepted a wireless communication between two terrorists in the Jawbar area of the Damascus governorate," Jaafari said in a letter addressed to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council. The letter was published on Tuesday on the UN website.

In that communication, the diplomat said, one "of the terrorists said that another terrorist named Abu Nadir was covertly distributing gas masks."

The Syrian security services, Jaafari said, also intercepted another communication between militants one of whom was called Abu Jihad. During that conversation, the latter indicated that toxic gas would be used and "asked those who are working with him to supply protective masks."

Back in March, Jaafari informed the Security Council that a person named Haytham Salahuddin Qassab "transported chemical substances from Turkey on behalf of the terrorist organization known as Ahrar al-Sham." He allegedly purchased the chemical agents from Turkey's Dharwa Import and Export Company.
The substances reportedly included among others white phosphorous and isopropyl hydroxylamine. It was informed, Jaafari said, that militants planned to use them to produce white smoke in certain areas and later claim that Syrian planes had bombed them.

"However, the primary reason for requesting those substances was to use them as chemical weapons," the Syrian diplomat warned.
The information in the previous letter along with new details obtained from the intercepted communications confirm "that armed terrorist groups are preparing to use toxic gas in the Jawbar quarter and other areas, in order to accuse the Syrian Government of having committed such an act of terrorism," Jaafari said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team