The United States might be preparing for a "preemptive" attack on Syrian government troops, as the White House warned of a possible chemical attack allegedly planned by Damascus, senior Russian lawmaker, Konstantin Kosachev, said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the White House claimed that Washington had identified "potential preparations" for a chemical attack by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
The Kremlin commented on the claims and said that it considers US' threats against Syrian legitimate leadership to be "unacceptable". Damascus also denied the information, Sputnik reported.
On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces supported by the United States blamed the Syrian government for an alleged chemical weapon attack in Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s Idlib Province.
Reacting to the incident, Washington, which had not presented any proof of the chemical weapons use by Damascus, launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian governmental military airfield in Ash Sha’irat on April 6.
Damascus has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident and said that the Syrian government does not possess chemical weapons as the full destruction of Damascus’ chemical weapons stockpile had been confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in January 2016.
In an interview with Sputnik on April 21, Assad characterized the alleged chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun as a provocation to justify the US strike on Ash Sha’irat.
The Syrian leader also warned of the possibility of the new provocations similar to the one in Khan Sheikhoun.
