Moscow, SANA – Deputy Prime Minster, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem said that the US attack on Syria is an aggression and a breach of the international law and of the sovereignty of a UN member state, adding that it has several goals, one of which is to disable peace process.

Al-Moallem’s remarks came during a meeting with his Russian Counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow today.

He noted that the Russian veto came at the right time to prevent the repetition of this aggression adding “I say aggression because it was launched outside the framework of the UN Security Council and without conducting an investigation by the Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to know who committed the chemical attack.”

Minister al-Moallem continued to say that this aggression has goals, one of which is to disable peace process, pointing out that “We noticed that when the Trump administration came to power, the US role in the Astana and the Geneva process has been reduced to the very minimum. This means that they do not want success in the peace process.”

He added that the UN Security council was turned into auction platform for western states in order to destroy Syria’s unity and political system, therefore the Russian veto came at the right time to prevent continuing aggression on Syria, extending gratitude to the Russian Federation for using veto for the eighth time to prevent the exploitation of this aggression by the UNSC.

Al-Moallem said that Damascus called upon the OPCW to form an impartial, honest and balanced investigation committee to find out the reality.

He thanked Lavrov for inviting him and the accompanying delegation to visit Moscow, expressing high appreciation to the Russian people, government and President Vladimir Putin and the whole friendly Russian nation for the principled position that Russia took in relation to US aggression.

For his part, Lavrov said that Russia welcomed Syria’s decision to invite experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to conduct an honest and objective investigation on the alleged chemical attack, adding that “we insist on an independent objective investigation by the OPCW with additional experts.”

Lavrov added that the UNSC witnessed an attempt to exploit what has happened which led to directing baseless accusations to Syrian government of using chemical weapons in order to justify the missile attack on April 7th, indicating that the western attempt to pass a unilateral draft resolution is a unjustified provocative step, affirming that Russia will not allow to pass such resolution.

“It is principally important to not succumb to provocations, amid the hysteria unleashed in the West, and not allow destroying the efforts within the framework of the Astana process and the Geneva process,” he noted.

The fact that US State Secretary confirmed yesterday that there is no alternative to political process, despite all negative events of recent days, gives certain hope, said Lavrov.

R.Raslan/Mazen