On April 14, the
United States, the UK and France delivered missile strikes on Syria’s military
and civilian infrastructure facilities.
DAMASCUS, April 19.
/TASS/. Two cruise missiles found unexploded by the Syrian military after the
US missile strike on April 14 have been handed over to Russia, a source in the
Syrian defense ministry told TASS on Thursday.
"Two cruise
missiles that did not detonate during the US missile strike on Syria overnight
to April 14 were found by the Syrian military. Both are in rather good
condition. These missiles were handed over to Russian officer the day before
yesterday (April 17)," the source said, adding that both "were sent
to Russia by plane yesterday (April 18)."
TASS has no official
confirmation of this information from the Russian defense ministry.
US President Donald
Trump wrote on Twitter on April 11 that Russia should get ready for a missile
attack on Syria, claiming the missiles will be "nice and new and
smart".
On April 14, the
United States, France and the United Kingdom delivered a massive strike on
Syrian targets in bypassing of the United Nations Security Council. According
to the Russian defense ministry, the missile strike was in the small hours on
Saturday. The ministry reported that a total of 103 cruise and air-to-surface
missiles had been fired, 71 of them were shot down by Syria’s air defense
units. Three civilians were wounded. Neither of the missiles appeared in the
zone of responsibility of Russian air defense systems in Tartus and Hmeymim.
Russian missile defense systems were not used.
The United States,
the UK and France said the strikes had been a response to an alleged chemical
attack in Syria’s Douma on April 7 reported by some non-governmental
organizations, including White Helmets.
The Russian foreign
ministry dismissed that as fake news. The Russian defense ministry stated that
White Helmets were an unreliable source, notorious for disseminating
falsehoods. The Russian center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties on
April 9 examined Douma to find no traces of chemical weapons. Earlier, various
official Russian agencies repeatedly warned that preparations had been underway
in different parts of Syria for provocations and simulations of chemical
attacks that would be blamed on government forces.
OPCW inspectors
arrived in Syria on April 14 to collect samples to either confirm or dismiss
reports on the chemical attack.
Source: ITAR-TASS
19-04-2018
