GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump are calling on Russia to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad in order to cease Damascus’ offensive operations against peaceful regions.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert, following phone talks between Merkel and Trump: “the chancellor and the [U.S.] president urge Russia to induce the Assad regime to cease offensive operation against the peaceful regions.”

The German and U.S. leaders again accused Damascus of using chemical weapons, according to the spokesman.

In summer 2014, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed that the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile was completed.

The process had begun in September 2013 on the basis of international agreements.

Despite this, Syrian opposition and Western countries have continued accusing Damascus of using chemicals, leading to a probe by the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM).

In November, Moscow vetoed the JIM’s prolongation, noting that its report had been based mostly on assumptions and selective use of facts.

Russia then called for a new international investigative body to objectively investigate the use of chemical weapons in the war-torn country.

Following the alleged use of chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta in late January, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated that Damascus might still be using chemical weapons.

Tilerson said regardless of who had conducted the attacks, Russia ultimately bore responsibility for the victims because of the country’s involvement in Syria.

In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of spreading mass propaganda against Russia and attempting to demonise the Syrian government before subsequently toppling it, saying that the information on the chemical attacks used by the U.S. was uncorroborated.

In early February, the UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic announced that it was investigating reports of the alleged use of chlorine in the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Eastern Ghouta. (Sputnik/NAN)

– Mar. 2, 2018 @ 17:10 GMT |