Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Moallem denied on Tuesday that the government carried out chemical weapons attacks, calling US Secretary of State John Kerry’s accusations “categorically false.”
Speaking in Damascus, he said he rejected “utterly and completely” what Kerry had said the previous day.
On Monday, Kerry called the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria “undeniable” and a “moral obscenity,” in the strongest remarks yet from the Obama administration.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, Kerry said the significance of the attack that left hundreds dead went beyond Syria itself. “This is about the large-scale, indiscriminate use of weapons that the civilized world, long ago, decided must never be used at all,” he said.
“What is before us today is real. And it is compelling,” Kerry continued, adding that President Barack Obama was determined to hold Syria accountable.
Kerry accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of failing to cooperate with chemical weapons inspectors from the UN “at every turn” and destroying evidence of the attack through shelling. “That is not the behavior of a government that has nothing to hide,” Kerry said.
“Our sense of basic humanity is offended, not only by this cowardly crime, but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up,” he added.
Kerry said that the Syrian government’s delayed decision to allow a team of UN inspectors near the site was “too late.”
This article originally was published at Global Post.