Syrian army soldiers. (File photo)
The Syrian army has denied reports accusing it of using cluster munitions, saying it does not possess such weapons.
"Some news outlets that are complicit in the bloodletting in Syria have been publishing false reports that the Syrian army has been using cluster bombs against armed terrorists," the Syrian army said in a statement on Monday.
The statement comes in response to a report by Human Rights Watch on Sunday accusing government forces of dropping Russian-made cluster bombs over civilian areas.
The army further denied the accusations, saying that “such reports are baseless and a part of a disinformation campaign."
Cluster bombs have been comprehensively banned by most nations. They explode in the air, scattering dozens of smaller bombs.
Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil that began in Syria in March 2011.
Damascus says ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists’ are behind the unrest while the West and the opposition accuse the security forces of killing protesters.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals, mostly from Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan.
Western states have been calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. However, Russia and China strongly oppose the Western drive to oust Assad.
SZH/AZ
