BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2018) Possible Western strikes against the Syrian government that the German government was reportedly considering joining would cause a dangerous escalation of the situation in the war-torn country that is attempting to undergo conflict settlement, Heike Hansel, a member of the Bundestag from the Die Linke party, told Sputnik Monday.
The Bild newspaper reported on Sunday that the German Defense Ministry was mulling the possibility of joining potential US, UK and French strikes on Syria if a chemical weapons attack occurred in the middle Eastern country. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday that "the government was in contact with its partners and allies on the situation in Syria's Idlib," stressing that the involvement of the country's armed forces in a military operation must be approved by the parliament. Idlib is Syria's last militant stronghold and has been at the forefront of news coming out of Syria due to an impending government offensive.
"An involvement of Bundeswehr in military strikes in Syria would provoke another dangerous escalation ... This is a breach of international law by NATO members, because there is no UN mandate for this. Germany should not participate," Hansel said.
She also criticized the Western narrative of chemical incidents in Syria, stressing that there was scarce evidence that the Syrian government was behind the Duma attack in April which prompted the previous airstrike against Syria by the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Damascus as well as Moscow at the time refuted the allegations of Damascus being behind the Duma incident, saying that the attack was plotted by militants to discredit the government.
"Moreover, the justification for a possible German involvement in military strikes in Syria if a 'demonstrable' use of poison gas by the Syrian army can be proven is appalling, as even the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, has not been able to establish a retrospective responsibility for chemical weapons operations in the Syrian Duma attack," the lawmaker said.
The German Defense Ministry said Monday that it wass "not willing to speculate" about the possibility of Germany joining Western strikes against the Syrian government.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in late August that terrorists of the Tahrir al-Sham group (formerly Jabhat Fatah al Sham terror organization, banned in Russia) were preparing a false-flag attack in Idlib to later accuse Damascus of using chemical weapons.
