World

Idlib False Flag Attack Being Prepared to Hurt Gov't Offensive - Syrian Lawmaker

GENEVA (Sputnik) - The White Helmets and militants in Syria's Idlib are planning to film a false flag chemical attack in an attempt to mar the Syrian government as it prepares to mount an offensive in the last militant stronghold in the war-torn Middle Eastern country, Ahmad Kuzbari, a member of the Syrian parliament, told Sputnik Tuesday.
Sputnik

Earlier the day, the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation said the filming of a staged provocation with the alleged use of chemical weapons had begun in the Idlib province. A Syrian human rights activist later told Sputnik that Dozens of White Helmets arrived from Turkey to Idlib in order to conduct the false flag operation. He said they had tanks containing an unknown gas with them. The Russian military said that the gas was a chlorine-based toxic substance.

READ MORE: Staged Filming of Mock 'Chemical Attacks' Has Begun in Idlib — Russian MoD

"It's taking place now because the Syrian Arab Army and its Russian allies are very serious in eliminating the last terrorists brought by Americans, it has become an open comic play," Kuzbari said.

He added that the international community remains deaf to Syria's and Russia's warnings of the impending provocation.

Attack on Syria's Idlib Risks a Severe Security Crisis - Erdogan
Russia has warned of the planned false flag operation since late August. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that terrorists of the Tahrir al-Sham group (affiliated with the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham terror organization, banned in Russia) were preparing the false flag chemical attack to provoke foreign intervention in the country.

READ MORE: Charges of Chemical Weapons in Syria Aim to 'Manipulate Public Perception'

On Monday, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said that the United States, Britain and France have agreed that any use of chemical weapons by the government of Syria would result in a much stronger response than in previous incidents. The last Western attack on Syria took place after April's chemical incident in Duma, which was blamed on Damascus by Syrian militants and Western governments. Syria called the Duma incident a false flag operation, stressing that it got rid of its chemical weapons stockpile with the oversight of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Discuss