Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assessed today that the attacks of Western countries in Syria were accompanied by a campaign of "lies" and disinformation in the UN Security Council.
Assad, who spoke today with a group of Russian politicians visiting Syria, said that the US, Great Britain and France, which carried out the attacks, were conducting a campaign of "lies and misinformation" against Russia and Syria, the AP agency reported.
The USA, France and Great Britain carried out airstrikes in Syria yesterday after the recent attack in Douma in which, according to Western countries, Syrian forces used chemical weapons.
Syria and Russia have repeatedly denied the use of those weapons in Douma.
Steinmeier: Trump and Putin should take the first step
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on the Presidents of the USA and Russia, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, to "take the first step" in trying to negotiate a long-term solution to the Syrian conflict, the newspaper Bild am Zontag reported today.
"Putin and Trump should take the first step," Steinmeier told the German newspaper and added that there can be no improvement in the situation on the ground in Syria unless Trump and Putin work together to resolve the situation in that country.
The German president said that countries in the region should also be taken into account, insisting that "everything starts with the US and Russia".
Steinmeier assessed the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Great Britain as a "very serious incident" and added that he was concerned about the deterioration of relations between Russia and the West.
"We must not give up direct dialogue (with Russia)," although it is appropriate to tell Russia that some of its actions have consequences, such as the annexation of Crimea and the crisis in Ukraine that has led to sanctions being imposed on Russia.
Zarif: It is possible that some terrorist groups are responsible for chemical weapons attacks
Today, the Iranian authorities condemned the attacks of Western countries in Syria, stating that no country has the right to take punitive measures against another country without respecting international procedures.
The head of Iranian diplomacy, Mohammad Javad Zarif, warned of the possibility that "some terrorist groups" are responsible for the chemical weapons attacks attributed to the Syrian authorities, the AP agency reported.
As reported by the Iranian Fars agency, Zarif discussed this issue with British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson today.
Along with Russia, Iran is an ally of the regime of Syrian President Assad, who was accused of using chemical weapons in an attack on April 7 in Douma, the last rebel stronghold near Damascus, where more than 40 people were killed.
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