Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Moscow, SANA – The Russian Defense Ministry stated that evidence of chemical weapon use by terrorists against the Syrian Arab army and civilians has been found in southwest of Aleppo city.
“While conducting reconnaissance in the ‘1070’ area (south-western suburbs of Aleppo), the officers of the scientific center of the Russian Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence (RChBD) have found evidence of chemical weapon use by terrorists against the civilian population and Syrian servicemen,,” Spokesperson of the Russian Defense Ministry Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on Friday.
Quoted by TASS news agency, Konashenkov added that the Russian military specialists found unexploded ammunition with chemical agents and took soil samples in areas where terrorists used their weapons.
“After conducting an express analysis in a mobile laboratory it was determined that the toxic substances that filled the militants’ artillery ammunition were with high probability chlorine and white phosphorus,” Konashenkov noted.
In late October, a statement by the Syrian General Command of the Army and Armed Forces affirmed that terrorist organizations are exploiting the pause in Aleppo to escalate their attacks on the city, adding that the terrorists fired shells containing chlorine gas at the “1070 Apartment Project” area and al-Hamadaniyeh residential neighborhood in Aleppo, causing 48 cases of asphyxiation.
The Defense Ministry spokesman indicated that a detailed analysis of the samples will be made at the laboratory of the scientific center of the Russian Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence (RChBD). The laboratory is accredited by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
On November 3rd, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian military experts have arrived in the Syrian city of Aleppo to take samples in the area where chemical weapons were used by terrorists.
“Militants who have been striving in the past days to break though the Syrian Army’s exterior defense ring of Aleppo at any cost, have used toxic substances multiple times,” said Konashenkov.
He added that experts of the Russian Defense Ministry are equipped with all the necessary technical means of carrying out an express analysis, filtering and delivering samples to the Russian Federation.
Peskov: Washington’s inability to separate moderate opposition from terrorist groups behind failure to reach agreement on Syria
The Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that the US inability to separate “moderate” opposition from terrorist organizations is the main factor behind the failure to reach an agreement on Syria.
“There was an agreement, achieved with great effort, which, unfortunately, was not implemented through no fault of Russia. The US and Washington’s partners have been unable to fulfill the key provision: to disentangle the so-called moderate opposition… from terrorist groups,” TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying.
“Any political settlement is impossible as long as this problem remains unsolved, though, of course, experts continue their work,” Peskov added.
Russian Military source: Russian naval group ready to strike terrorists in Syria
The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier group is getting ready to strike terrorists’ gatherings and positions in Syria, a well-informed Russian military source said .
In a statement to Interfax news agency, the source noted that the Su-33 and MiG-29K fighter jets have increased their surveillance and reconnaissance sorties from carrier Admiral Kuznetsov over Syria to patrol the Syrian airspace and identify their combat missions.
The source added that The Russian fleet, including the Admiral Kuznetsov , the Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great) nuclear-powered battle cruiser and Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate, has become ready to launch military operations any time.
It stated that the Russian reconnaissance ships stationed off the Syrian coast continue their missions to monitor the Syrian territories and detect the terrorist organizations’ positions in order to put out the target lists before submitting them to the fighter jets and Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate.
The Admiral Kuznetsov is capable of carrying more than 50 aircraft. It is equipped with Granit anti-ship cruise missiles, Klinok air defense missile systems, Kashtan air defense missile-gun systems, an automatic ship-based artillery system, as well as an anti-submarine defense system.
Ryabkov: Russia does not have confirmed information about American plans to eliminate Jabhat al-Nusra leaders
Moscow does not have confirmed information about American plans to eliminate leaders of Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorist group, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said .
Ryabkov was quoted by the Russian TASS news agency as saying that “If a decision like that has been made, we can only hail it… However, foreign policies and diplomacy reactions are given to official statements, and as yet we have not seen anything of the kind.”
On the report published by Washington Post newspaper about the US President Barack Obama’s orders to Pentagon to target Jabhat al-Nusra leaders, Ryabkov said “It is complicated to comment on information in the media, especially in the media like Washington Post, for which reliability of published information has not been characteristic recently. In some cases, it was simply not true.”
In turn, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said “Moscow is also not making any plans on the future counter-terrorism cooperation with the US right now. We’ll wait and see. The new president was elected only two days ago so it is too early to make any plans.”
R. Raslan / Ghossoun
