US Strike at Shayrat Airbase Fails to Damage Syria’s Advanced Planes, Military Equipment

Sulieman said that the US refusal to probe into the chemical incident in Khan Sheikhoun in Southern Idlib proved that Washington and certain regional countries are no more than an accomplice of the terrorist groups.

He further said that the US, tipped off by false intelligence reports about the existence of advanced warplanes and weapons in Shayrat airbase, expected to strongly undermine the Syrian air power by targeting the base, but they later came to realize that they were wrong.

He said the US and its regional allies started much media hype over the chemical incident in Idlib to first justify their subsequent attack and derail the public opinion from their failure in attaining their promised goals after the missile raid.

Suleiman went on to say that the US missile strike was also meant to please Israel after the Syrian army downed an Israeli fighter jet a month earlier.

The analyst further reminded that the terrorist groups are the only party in Syria that are receiving chemical weapons and agents, adding that they had recently received chemical weapons that had been dispatched to them from Libya via Turkey.

The Syrian government has repeatedly shouted protest and concerns about the possession of chemical weapons by the terrorists, but no one has shown care at the international circles, he added.

A video report released by the Russian state-run TV about Shayrat military airport in Homs province on Monday proved that social media claims about the existence of containers of chemical and poisonous materials at the airbase were sheer lies.

Yevgeny Bodobni, a journalist of the Russian TV channel 1, displayed in a video report from Shayrat airbase that was released after US missile attack that the metal containers at the airport were used to transfer warplanes’ munitions.

The video shows that some of the containers were so old and rusty that they could not be used for storing any kind of liquids.

The video released by the Russian journalist showed the metal containers were no way related to the storage of poisonous materials and were only used for transferring warplanes’ ammunition or technical equipment.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that the Pentagon and the US State Department failed to prove the existence of chemical weapons at the Syrian airfield struck by US cruise missiles.

The Russian military said that Moscow believed that sending experts was the only way to obtain evidence of the alleged use to presence of chemical weapons at the Syrian airbase attacked by the US, RIA Novosti reported.

“After 24 hours after the US Navy warships launched a massive strike by cruise missile on the Shayrat (airfield in Syria), neither the Pentagon, nor the US State Department have presented proof of the presence of chemical weapons there,” ministry’s spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Maj. Gen. Konashenkov added that media representatives who visited the base as well haven’t found any chemical weapons there.

“The airfield was visited by dozens of mass media representatives, by the local administration, firefighters, police, not to mention Syrian servicemen. Neither depots, nor ammunition containing chemical weapons have been found at the Shayrat (airbase). Everyone who has been at the airfield doesn’t wear gas masks and feel absolutely well,” he stressed.

Konashenkov underscored that “a question arises: what has again been demonstrated to the US president as the alleged proof of the chemical weapons’ possession in a state disliked by Washington and who did it (presented the “evidence)?”

“Thus, the only way to receive objective evidence of the alleged possession of chemical weapons at the Shayrat and demonstrate it to the world is to sent there a commission of experts,” he said, adding that the same thing was done in the Syrian city of Aleppo by Russian specialists after militants had used chemical weapons.

“Any specialist of the reliable — even for the US — Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) knows that the precursors left from the combat poisonous substances cannot be hidden even after months and years after they had been stored,” the spokesman underlined.

“Any specialist of the reliable — even for the US — OPCW knows that the precursors left from the combat poisonous substances cannot be hidden even after months and years after they had been stored,” spokesman emphasized.

On April 7, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Shayrat near the city of Homs.

Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria’s Idlib on April 4, which Washington blames on the Syrian government.

Syrian opposition had claimed forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had used a chemical gas on people in the Northwestern province, killing nearly 80 and injuring 200. Syrian president argued his government has no chemical weapons after agreeing to have them destroyed in 2013. He also ruled out having used chemicals against own people.