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Syrian Envoy Welcomes Russia’s Decision to Suspend Air Safety Channels With US

© Sputnik / Vladimir TrefilovSyrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad
Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad - Sputnik International
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Moscow made a right decision when it decided to cut off a point-to-point communications link with the US military in Syria following the deadly Washington’s missile attack on the Syrian airfield, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said Monday.

U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea which U.S. Defense Department said was a part of cruise missile strike against Syria on April 7, 2017. - Sputnik International
Suspending Syria Air Safety MOU to Let Russia React Timely on US Threats
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the suspension of a point-to-point communications link with the US military under the memorandum of understanding on de-confliction in Syria, a day after the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on a Syrian military airfield in response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on Damascus.

“I think it was a right step, because Russia remains a main ally of a legitimately elected Syrian government and a guarantor of international laws,” Haddad told the Izvestia newspaper, referring to Russia’s decision to suspend the memorandum with the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that groundless accusations in the chemical weapons incident in Syria's Idlib were unacceptable before the investigation into the matter had been carried out while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday criticized the US missile attack as a violation of the international law.

The Syrian foreign minister denied the government’s involvement in the Idlib incident, saying it had never nor would it ever use chemical weapons on either civilians or terrorists operating in the country.

Earlier this year, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that the country’s government had never used weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, against the Syrian people. Besides, under a Russian-US deal after the east Ghouta sarin gas incident in 2013, Damascus joined the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and agreed to destroy its stockpile under Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) oversight. In January 2016, the OPCW announced that all chemical weapons in Syria had been destroyed.

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