DAMASCUS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Syria's Foreign Ministry denied U.S. claim of Damascus' intention to use chemical weapons, slamming it as baseless, according to state news agency SANA.
"The United States have launched, over the past few days, a misleading campaign, alleging the presence of intentions by the Syrian Arab Republic to launch a chemical attack on Syrian people and these misleading allegations are far from the truth and don't rely on any evidence or justifications," the ministry said.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that the United States had detected evidence of preparations for a chemical attack, similar to the preparations that occurred before an attack in April.
The U.S. accused the Syrian government forces of carrying out a chemical attack in April against the Khan Sheikhoun town in Idlib.
The Syrian government denied the accusations and demanded a probe into the incident, accusing the rebels of staging the attack to draw in foreign retribution.
Syrian government officials said then that the Syrian army was in a good position and making huge progress, and has no need to resort to such attacks.
They also completely denied any possession of such weapons.
The U.S. then launched 59 Tomahawk missiles on the Shuairat Air Base in central Syria, saying the chemical attack was prepared in that facility.
"Syria stresses that the aim of such allegations is to justify a new aggression on Syria with false pretexts as it happened when they attacked the Sheirat Air Base," the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the ministry stressed that such claims came against the backdrop of the progress being made by the Syrian army on several fronts against the U.S.-backed rebels.
It stressed that the Syrian government had gotten rid of its chemical program completely, and that it's in no possession of such weapons.
In a jab at the administration of Donald Trump, the ministry said the U.S. administration has fallen to prove Syria's complicity in using chemical weapons last April in Idlib.
The statement concluded by saying that "Syria denounces the U.S. threats and stresses that any U.S. attack on the Syrian army or people will serve the armed terrorist groups and will run counter to all of the UN charters and related UN Security Council resolutions."
