Belfast Telegraph

Friday 14 March 2014

Assad denies sarin nerve gas attack

President of Syria, Bashar Assad denies his regime orchestrated a chemcial attack that killed hundreds of people


In an interview with Fox News Channel conducted in the Syrian capital of Damascus and aired on Wednesday, Assad said terrorists were to blame for the chemical attack, which the US says killed more than 1,400 people, including hundreds of children. He said evidence that terrorist groups have used sarin gas has been turned over to Russia and that Russia, through one of its satellites, has evidence that the rockets in the August 21 attack were launched from another area.



Assad said his government would abide by an agreement reached with US and Russian officials to give up his chemical weapons. He says he has received estimates that destroying the stockpiles would cost one billion dollars and would take roughly a year.


He said Syria was ready to talk to experts about the technical aspects of what he said would be a complicated task. He said Syria was ready to provide a list of weapons and provide experts access to the sites. "We can do it tomorrow," he said. "It's not about will," Assad added. "It's about technique." While he said the August 21 attack was "despicable" and "a crime," he argued that no one had verified the credibility of videos or pictures of the victims.

Meanwhile 19 people were reported killed on Thursday when a roadside bomb targeted a bus in Homs province. It was not immediately clear why the bus was targeted.

Al-Qaida-linked gunmen have captured a Syrian town near the Turkish border after heavy fighting with a rebel group, an activist group said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said members of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stormed the town of Azaz, forcing members of the Northern Storm Brigade to withdraw. Three rebels and two jihadis were killed in the fighting.

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