Russia brands US chemical weapons warning to Syria 'unacceptable'

By Dmitry Solovyov and Jeff Mason

Russia has denounced a US warning to the Syrian leadership that it will pay a heavy price for any chemical weapons attack, and dismissed White House assertions that a strike was being prepared as "unacceptable".

The White House said yesterday the preparations in Syria were similar to actions before an 4 April chemical attack.

It killed dozens of civilians and prompted US President Donald Trump to order a missile strike on a Syrian air base.

But Russia – President Bashar al-Assad's main backer in Syria's six-year-old civil war – challenged the US intelligence.

"I am not aware of any information about a threat that chemical weapons can be used," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters.

"Certainly, we consider such threats to the legitimate leadership of the Syrian Arab Republic unacceptable."

‘Heavy price’

Russian officials have privately described the war in Syria as the biggest source of tension between Moscow and Washington, and the cruise missile strike ordered by Trump in April raised the risk of confrontation between them.

"The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

“If… Mr Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price."

The US missile strike on the Shayrat airfield in Syria in April followed the deaths of 87 people in what Washington said was a poison gas attack in rebel-held territory.

Syria denied it carried out the attack.

‘Abnormal activity’

US and allied intelligence officers had for some time identified several sites where they suspected Assad's government may have been hiding newly made chemical weapons from inspectors, said a US official familiar with the intelligence.

The assessment was based in part on the locations, security surrounding the suspect sites and other information which the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to describe.

The White House warning, the official said, was based on new reports of what was described as abnormal activity that might be associated with preparations for a chemical attack.

Although the intelligence was not considered conclusive, Washington decided to issue the public warning to the Syrian leadership to try to deter such a strike, said the official, who declined to discuss the issue further.