DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Wednesday that the French investigation confirmed sarin use in the reported deadly attack in Idlib province that the sides accuse each other of carrying out.
"Syria condemns the deception and fabricated lies presented by French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in connection with the crime in Khan Shaykhun," the ministry said in a statement. "This leaves no doubt about France's involvement in this crime and its direct participation in the aggression against Syria."
The West has accused the Syrian government of carrying out the chemical weapons attack in Idlib province on April 4. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem denied the government’s involvement in the Idlib incident, saying it had never used chemical weapons on either civilians or terrorists operating in the country and will never do so.
Damascus joined the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons after a major Sarin gas attack in Syria's East Ghouta in 2013, agreeing 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.
