Ex-UK Ambassador in Damascus: Trump’s Chemical Allegations against Syria Pretext to Launch Aggression

LONDON, (ST)- Peter Ford, a former UK ambassador to Syria, has stressed that accusations made by US President Donald Trump against the Syrian government over alleged use of chemical weapons in Idleb falsify facts and are a pretext to launch aggression on Syria. He said that Trump’s bombardment  of Syria opens the way for further chemical attacks, according to SANA news agency.

Interviewed by the BBC English on Monday, Ford said “these accusations falsify facts ..We don’t know what happened. We need neutral investigation”, pointing out that there are information about targeting a depot for the terrorists in the town of Khan Sheikhoun containing chemical weapons contrary to the American narrative which accuses the Syrian government of carrying out chemical attack on the town.

“We shouldn’t forget what happened before the Iraqi war when politicians and intelligence agencies said they were sure that the Iraqi army had Weapons of Mass Destruction and presented so many proofs about this to the world public opinion. However, we discovered that all that was untrue, and today in Syria, they may also be mistaken, Ford added.

He went on to say that “they are looking for a pretext to attack Syria…Let’s not cheat ourselves, what happened may encourage more chemical attacks not the opposite.”  

When the BBC presenter tried to embarrass his guest by telling him that he was repeating what the Russians say, Ford said “when I analyze the data of an issue I don’t leave my reason behind, I try to be logical and given the previous experiences, including in Iraq, we can’t trust the intelligence officials because they have their own agendas.”

Trump has just given the terrorists a thousand reasons to stage fake flag operations. Seeing how successful and how easy it is, with a gullible media, to provoke the West into intemperate reactions, according to Ford.

He said the terrorists of ISIS and al-Qaeda were trained on carrying out such fake operations, pointing out that this was documented by the United Nations last August when the terrorist launched a chlorine gas attack against civilians and tried to make things look like an operation carried out by the Syrian government. “These are not my own words” he added.

“War advocates will come to us to say that the Syrian president is defying us, so we have to further interfere  in Syria… This will be a hoax “, Ford said, adding that all of us will pay expensively for Trump’s acts and that more years of war are expected to come.

Appearing on another channel, Ford ruled out the existence of what is called “moderate opposition” in Syria, rather, there are parties that want to seize power in Syria and bring destruction to  the Syrian state. He noted the bad situation in the areas held by the so-called “opposition” groups.

Ford was the UK ambassador to Damascus from 2003-2006.

Hamda Mustafa