Russia ‘alone’ in blaming Syrian rebels for chemical attack:US

Russia is ‘isolated and alone” in accusing Syrian rebels of staging a chemical weapons attack that the United States believes was carried out by the Damascus regime, the Pentagon said Thursday.

All evidence from the August 21 attack indicates that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces unleashed deadly sarin gas, and dozens of other countries share Washington’s view, Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters.

“Russia is isolated and alone in blaming the opposition. We’ve seen no credible reporting that the opposition has used chemical weapons in Syria,” Little said.

“We’ve been joined by more than 30 other countries in declaring that the Assad regime is responsible for the use of chemical weapons on August 21,” he said.

The Pentagon spokesman dismissed Moscow’s allegation that the rebels had fired the chemical agent.

“It’s common sense that the opposition does not have the capabilities to carry out such a large-scale, coordinated rocket and artillery attack from a regime held-neighborhood targeting a rebel-held neighborhood,” Little said.

He also suggested Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s credibility was on the line after his government proposed placing Assad’s chemical arsenal under international control.

“President Putin has invested his credibility in transferring Assad’s chemical weapons to international control and ultimately destroying them. The world will know whether Russia can follow through with that commitment,” Little added.

The comments came as top US and Russian diplomats were due to meet in Geneva to discuss Moscow’s proposal to destroy Assad’s banned poison gas stockpile.

President Barack Obama has agreed to postpone a possible US-led military strike on Syria to allow time for talks on the proposal.