Syria's Assad says chemical attack '100 percent fabrication'
Source: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said a suspected chemical weapons attack was a "fabrication" to justify a US strike on his forces, in an exclusive interview with AFP in Damascus.
The embattled leader, whose country has been ravaged by six years of war, said his firepower had not been affected by the attack ordered by US President Donald Trump, but acknowledged further strikes were possible.
Assad insisted his forces had turned over all their chemical weapons stocks years ago and would never use the banned arms.
The interview on Wednesday was his first since a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun.
"Definitely, 100 percent for us, it's fabrication," he said of the incident.
Read more: https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/syrias-assad-says-chemical-attack-100-percent-fabrication
US intercepted chemical weapons communications in Syria: report
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 04/13/17 08:40 AM EDT
The U.S. intelligence community intercepted communications between Syrian military officials and chemical weapons experts discussing preparations for a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria last week, CNN reported Wednesday.
While the intercepted communications took place before an attack blamed on the Syrian regime, a senior U.S. official told CNN that the U.S. did not know about the strike before it happened. The intercepts were part of a review of communications and other intelligence from the hours after the attack.
The U.S. intelligence community typically deals with such a large volume of communications from Syria and Iraq that the information is often not looked at by analysts unless a certain event warrants it.
No communications intercepts have yet been reviewed to confirm accusations that Russia was complicit in the chemical weapons attack, which was allegedly carried out by Syrian President Bashar Assad. That attack left more than 80 civilians in the country's Idlib Province dead.
more
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/328614-us-intercepted-chemical-weapons-communications-in-syria-report
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