RUSSIA: FSA IS PLANNING TO USE CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN DARAA

Shabab al-Sunnah

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Shabab al-Sunnah militant group in Daraa has of chemical weapons and is planning to use them.

“We have received worrying information. According to Russia’s information, the Shabab al-Sunnah armed group has access to chemical weapons,” Zakharova said during a press conference.

Shabab al-Sunnah is one of the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups in southern Syria. The group participated in the attack on the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in Daraa city earlier this year. Furthermore, the groups is one of few FSA groups in Daraa that has received US-made TOW ATGMs.

Zakharova releveled that Shabab al-Sunnah has several missiles fitted with chemical agents in its warehouse in Daraa. Furthermore, according to Zakharova, the group is planning to use this weapons against a civilian area in Daraa.

Likely Shabab al-Sunnah is planning to sabotage the de-escalation agreement in southern Syria by faking a chemical weapons attack by the “Assad regime”.

Lately the group took part in the attack against ISIS-affiliated Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Waleed in the western Daraa countryside and made no gains what so ever.

Most of the FSA groups in southern Syria have proven that they are not interested at all in fighting ISIS. The main reason behind this might be the fact that these groups don’t see ISIS as a threat in the first place due to ideological similarities.

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