Russia's foreign ministry issued a statement on Sunday, saying: "The spread of bogus stories about the use of chlorine and other poisonous substances by (Syrian) government forces continues. Yet another such fabricated piece of information about an alleged chemical attack in Douma appeared yesterday”.
Moscow’s reaction came a few hours after militants and various groups linked to them, including the so-called "White Helmets", claimed that government forces on Saturday had dropped a barrel bomb containing poisonous chemicals in Douma, Eastern Ghouta’s largest town, killing and wounding dozens of civilians.
Damascus, in a statement released late on Saturday, strongly rejected the allegation and said the so-called Jaish al-Islam Takfiri terrorist group, which has a dominant presence in the town, was repeating allegations of use of chemical munitions “in order to accuse the Syrian Arab army, in a blatant attempt to hinder the Army’s advance.”
Eastern Ghouta, which is home to nearly 400,000 people, fell to multiple militant groups in 2012, months after Syria plunged into crisis and has since served as a launch pad for fatal attacks against residents and infrastructure in Damascus.
The area has witnessed deadly violence over the past few months, with foreign-sponsored terrorists launching mortar attacks on the Syrian capital in the face of an imminent defeat.
After days of what has been described as one of the deadliest episodes in the war against militants that has gripped Syria since 2011, Syrian government forces agreed to let the militants flee to northern parts of the country in order to save the lives of civilians caught in the crossfire.
The Syrian government surrendered its stockpiles of chemical weapons in 2014 to a joint mission led by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which oversaw its dismantling and destruction.
