US PLANS FOR SYRIA STRIKES AT ODDS WITH PEACE CONFERENCE IDEA – MOSCOW

Topic: Protests in Syria

The United States is devising plans to attack the positions of Syrian
government forces

© REUTERS/ Rami Bleible
18:34 24/07/2013

Tags: chemical weapons, Foreign Ministry, White House, United Nations,
Martin Dempsey, Sergei Lavrov,Aleppo, United States, Syria, Russia

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Dire Consequences of Confrontation in Syria

MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) – The United States’ plans to conduct
strikes on Syrian territory conflict with agreements between Moscow
and Washington on the convocation of aninternational peace conference,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

“From all indications,” the United States is devising plans to
attack the positions of Syrian government forces, which contravenes
the idea of holding an international peace conference “without any
preconditions,” he said.

On Monday, US lawmakers released an assessment by Martin Dempsey,
chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, stating that Washington
could carry out a range of missions to back Syrian rebels in their
fight against President Assad’s forces.

Moscow hopes to discuss the issue of chemical weapons at an
international peace conference for Syria, Lavrov said, adding that
Moscow was for a comprehensive investigation of all such instances.

He recalled that Russia had made its contribution to such
an investigation, recently submitting to the United Nations a
comprehensive study of soil samples taken from the site of a reported
chemical attack by Syrian opposition forces outside the northern city
of Aleppo in March. The study determined that the nerve agent sarin
was used and that it was not “industrially manufactured.”

Earlier reports by foreign experts claimed that the Syrian government
used chemical weapons on several occasions during the two-year
conflict, which prompted the US and the EU to lift sanctions on
weapons sales to the Syrian rebels. The White House said last month
that it would provide direct military aid to the rebels.

According to UN data, nearly 100,000 people have been killed in the
Syria conflict.