BERLIN, (ST)-German Left Party Leader Sahra Wagenknecht has strongly criticized the "miserable role" played by Saudi Arabia in Syria through funding and arming the terrorist organizations there.

"Saudi Arabia plays a miserable role in all of this. They're not only a warring party in Syria, but have also been shown to be supplying arms to and financing terror groups," Wagenknecht told the German Deutsche Welle news network.

MOSCOW– Russia believes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) report on the use of a nerve agent in Syria last spring is based on doubtful data, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday, Sputnik reported.

The OPCW said earlier in the day that its fact-finding mission "had established the use of sarin in the April 4 incident in Khan Sheikhoun in the province of Idlib".

"Unfortunately, we are forced to state on the first reading of the document that its conclusions are still based on very doubtful data," the Russian ministry's information and press department said.

ASTANA- Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the guarantor countries for the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Syria will convene a joint working group session on July 3 , ahead of the July 4-5 talks.

Sputnik quoted the Kazakh Foreign Ministry as saying in statement that the guarantor countries will work to implement provisions of memorandum on de-escalation zones during Astana talks next week.

The provocative claims made by the US about an alleged chemical attack in Syria are directed not only against Damascus but Moscow as well, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during her weekly press briefing, Sputnik reported.

Earlier this week, White House spokesperson Sean Spicer claimed that the United States allegedly "observed potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government."

MOSCOW-Russia perceives allegations made by the White House that Syria could be preparing a chemical attack as an invitation for terrorists to launch a provocation using chemical weapons, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Wednesday.

Earlier this week, White House spokesperson Sean Spicer claimed that the United States allegedly "observed potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government," Sputnik reported.

"We consider these new insinuations on the issue of weapons of mass destruction — in the worst traditions of 2003 NATO intervention in Iraq — to be nothing less than an invitation for terrorists, extremists and armed opposition in Syria to fabricate another mass provocation using chemical weapons," the statement, published on the Ministry's website, said.

The Kremlin spokesman commented on White House's statement claiming that Washington identified "potential preparations for a chemical attack by Syrian government forces and is ready to respond to it".

"We heard about this statement. We do not know what is the basis for this. And of course we categorically disagree with the 'another attack' wording," Peskov told reporters.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that it considers such US authorities' threats against Syrian legitimate leadership unacceptable.

MOSCOW- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, held a telephone conversation Monday, discussing the settlement in Syria, RT reported..

During the talks, initiated by Washington, the two diplomats agreed on the importance of Astana peace process in cementing the ceasefire in the war-ravaged country.

Lavrov also called on the US side to take steps to fend off provocations targeting the Syrian forces battling terrorists.

An American investigative journalist has found that the US President Donald Trump ignored important intelligence reports, before issuing an order to strike a Syrian airfield over an alleged chemical attack, which western countries blamed on the Syrian government, Press TV reported.

Using the incident as a pretext, US warships fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea at the Shayrat airfield in Syria’s central province of Homs on April 7. US officials claimed that the suspected Khan Sheikhoun gas attack had been launched from the military site.