Britain's MI6 Planning Fake Chemical Attack on Syria, US Senator Says


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A US state senator said Britain’s MI6 intelligence service was planning a chemical weapons attack on the Syrian people, which it would then blame on President Assad.

“Around four weeks ago, we knew that British intelligence was working towards a chemical attack in order to blame the Syrian government, to hold Syria responsible,” Richard Black said on Al Mayadeen on Monday.

Black said later that he meant the British were planning not to carry out an attack themselves, but to either direct rebels to do so or stage a phony attack, with actors posing as victims.

The senator also said some chemical attacks previously reported to have occurred in Syria were British fakes, pulled off with help from members of the so-called White Helmets, a group with alleged humanitarian mission.

“From what I can tell, they have been planning a fake attack, not a genuine one, but one where they actually move people out of a town and they have trained people to portray victims of a gas attack,” Black said in an interview with The Washington Post. “And the plan is to use the White Helmets who have always been involved in these notorious deceptions, to portray an attack.”

Black’s remarks echoed similar concerns raised by the Syrian government and its allies about the possibility of a chemical attack in the northwestern province of Idlib, where the military is planning a large-scale offensive against militants.

Home to some 1.5 million militants and their families, Idlib is the last remaining bastion of anti-government forces in Syria. Russia, a main ally of the Syrian government in its fight against terror, has repeatedly warned that militants and their supporters in the West could use a fake chemical attack as a pretext to slow the government offensive into Idlib.