A former Syrian diplomat told British broadcaster, Sky News, on Sunday that the British government knew the Syrian government was storing chemical weapons as far back as July 2012.
Khaled al-Ayoubi, former charge d’affair at the Syrian embassy in London, claimed the British government confronted Syria at the time the British government knew the Syrian government was storing chemical weapons as far back as July 2012.
Al-Ayoubi claimed the Syrian government confirmed the chemical weapons were “secured, stored and monitored by Syrian army.”
Read more: Syria war has displaced 7 million Syrians, or one-third of population
Get breaking National news
The former Syrian diplomat alleges that the only purpose for storing the chemical weapons was for the regime to control the Syrian people.
“He’s (referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad) is storing them to kill the Syrian people, to suppress them, to control them, to put for (to) them a threat. That if you are against me I will kill you all by this,” he said.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State, John Kerry, said the US has received hair and blood samples from medical teams indicating that Syria’s government forces used sarin in an attack on Damascus suburbs on 21 August.
It was the first piece of specific physiological evidence cited by the administration.
Previously, the US only alleges the regime troops fired rockets carrying an unnamed nerve agent at the Damascus suburbs, killing at least 1,429 civilians, including more than 400 children.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that collects information from a network of anti-regime activists in Syria, has said it has only been able to confirm the names of 502 dead.
It has challenged the US to release the information that led to the higher toll.
Assad denies that his government was responsible and has blamed the rebels for the alleged chemical attacks.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.