Syria's government on Thursday said it "categorically rejects" a report issued by the global chemical weapons watchdog that said chlorine was likely used as a weapon in a deadly attack on the Syrian town of Douma last year.
In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the report was "full of flagrant falsification of facts." It said the report lacks "professionalism" and accused those who prepared it of being far from neutral and objective.
The report issued last week by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons' fact-finding mission found "reasonable grounds" that chlorine was used in the April 7, 2018 attack. Medical workers said at the time that the attack killed more than 40 people.
The mission's mandate does not include laying blame, but the organization said the information gathered provided "reasonable grounds that the use of a toxic chemical as a weapon has taken place on 7 April 2018."
The Syrian Foreign Ministry also said the investigation "ignored statements from witnesses who experienced this incident and who described the claim that chemical weapons had been used in Douma as having been a play put on by armed terrorist groups."
