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A mortar round hit the Russian embassy compound in Damascus, injuring three, as Moscow accused Washington of blackmailing it to win a tough UN resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons.
The United States condemned the shelling, which came as clashes in the northwestern province of Idlib claimed the life of a local leader of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
“On September 22 as a result of shelling by the rebels of the Damascus neighbourhood of Mazzeh, one of the shells exploded on the territory of the Russian Embassy in Syria,” the Russian foreign ministry said yesterday.
“Three employees received non-life threatening injuries.
Right now an investigation of the incident is under way.”
The ministry added that the embassy was considering additional security measures after the attack, the first time the compound has been hit.
US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said Washington condemned the shelling and “expresses its concern for the welfare of those injured in the incident”.
But in Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed out at the United States, accusing Washington of using “blackmail” to push for a tough UN resolution enshrining the deal under which Syria is turning over its chemical weapons for destruction.
The United States, Britain and France want a severe resolution that could include sanctions or use of force under the UN Charter’s Chapter VII if Syria fails to implement the deal.
“Our American partners are beginning to blackmail us: if Russia won’t support a resolution under Chapter VII in the UN Security Council, then we will stop the work in the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,” Lavrov told Channel One, Russian agencies said.
The Hague-based OPCW is charged with overseeing the destruction of Syria’s weapons arsenal.
“Our partners are now blinded by their ideological goal of regime change (in Syria),” Lavrov said.
“All they talk about is that (President) Bashar al-Assad must leave.
“They are only interested in proving their own superiority. Not in the goal that is guiding us, to solve the problem of chemical weapons in Syria,” he added.
The OPCW said Saturday it had received a complete inventory from Syria of its chemical arsenal and was scrutinising the data.
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