Coat of arms of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has denied using any “chemical weapons” during its ongoing attack on the town of Kabani in northern Lattakia.
A military source told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) in the afternoon of May 19 that the SAA General Command “denies this news in its entirety.”
“The General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces denies this news in its entirety and confirms that it is completely untrue, stressing at the same time that it will continue to fight and uproot terrorism until the last atom of Syrian soil is cleared,” the source said.
Earlier, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former main branch of al-Qaeda in Syria, accused the Syrian army of launching three munitions armed with chlorine gas at its positions south of Kabani. The terrorist group weakened its own claims by revealing that no one was killed or even injured in the supposed “chemical attack.”
The Ministry of Defense of Russia had warned that HTS may stage attacks with chemical weapons, including chlorine. The most recent warning was issued two days ago.
Local observers believe that HTS faked the chemical attack to pressure the SAA into ending its military operation in northern Lattakia. In the last few days, the terrorist group lost dozens of its militants while trying to hold onto its remaining positions there.
