April 5, 2022 Special Dispatch No. 9879
Repeating Russian Propaganda, The Syrian Regime And Its Press Accuse The U.S. Of Developing Biological Weapons In Ukraine, Spreading Deadly Diseases Around The World
Russia, Syria | Special Dispatch No. 9879
As part of the Syrian regime's unreserved support for its ally Russia in the Ukraine war,[1] the regime has been repeating Russian propaganda against the U.S., saying, among other things, that the Russian forces in Ukraine have discovered laboratories where biological weapons were being developed under U.S. supervision, with the intention of using birds, bats and reptiles to spread diseases around the globe.[2] Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Bashar Al-Ja'afari, for example, said on March 24, 2022 at a Damascus conference on the Ukraine war that "the West opened 44 secret labs in Ukraine to develop biological weapons against Russia and the world."[3] In a statement it issued on March 23, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that America's "criminal activity in its biowarfare labs for exporting pathogens proves that an empire where lies and double standards come together is a direct threat to global security and peace."[4]
Articles in the Syrian press also repeated these conspiracy theories, accusing the U.S. of developing biological weapons in Ukraine labs. Some of the articles even claimed that the U.S. developed the Covid-19 virus in Ukraine, and that it is therefore necessary to look for "the Ukrainian Wuhan" rather than "the Chinese Wuhan." They warned that America's secret bioweapons may get out of control and threaten mankind's very existence.
The following are translated excerpts from some of these Syrian articles.
Syrian Journalist: The Discovery Of The Labs Confirms That Most Diseases And Epidemics Are Manufactured By The U.S.
'Abd Al-Halim Sa'ud, a columnist for the Syrian state daily Al-Thawra, wrote that what the Russians have allegedly exposed about the U.S.-supervised biolabs in Ukraine is not surprising, since the U.S. does not avoid any means to harm its enemies. He wrote: "Russia's special military operation in Ukraine continues to expose more and more secrets regarding the practical role that the pro-Western Ukrainian government was assigned. Perhaps the gravest and most important secret revealed so far is the birds that were tagged with numbers and released from biolabs in Ukraine to the Ivanovo and Voronezh areas in Russia. As clarified by a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, the goal of the research [in these labs] was to create a secret mechanism for spreading deadly diseases. The project, under U.S. supervision, is known as UP-4 and was carried out in 2020 in collaboration with biolabs in Kiev, Kharkiv and Odessa, in order to examine the feasibility of spreading a deadly contagious disease using migratory birds…[5]
"Whoever is familiar with America's record of funding and manufacturing nuclear and biological weapons and trying them out on people, crops and animals in various parts of the world should not be surprised by what was recently exposed. The leadership of the evil American empire and its deep state includes merciless and inhuman people whose goal is to spread death and terror and cause fatalities among their rivals, enemies and opponents in order to gain more money and property. As disciples of Machiavelli, they lack neither viciousness nor means, and their motto is his famous saying, that 'the end justifies the means.'
"The serious, and perhaps most serious [aspect] is that some reckless and irresponsible American behaviors are making it impossible to keep epidemics in check, and this may cause deadly diseases to get out of hand and spread around the world, as has been happening in the last two years with the Covid pandemic, which has killed six million out of the half a billion people who contracted it. This strengthens the assumption that many of the contagious diseases and epidemics that have afflicted people and animals were manufactured by America, and also explains the American tendency to gain control of the pharmaceutical industry in order to make more profits."[6]
Senior Syrian Journalist: U.S. Uses Biological Agents To Spread Diseases
'Abd Al-Rahim Ahmad, formerly the director of Syria's official news agency SANA and currently a columnist for Al-Thawra, wrote that the discovery of biolabs in Ukraine raises questions regarding America's possible involvement in creating the coronavirus: "The only explanation for America's wild reaction against the Russian operation in Ukraine is that it fears the exposure of its plot and of the secret biological warfare being conducted in the Ukraine labs… The U.S. cannot deny the existence of the secret biolabs that it has long been operating in Ukraine, first of all because the Russian forces have seized evidence of their existence, and second, because America is [clearly] terrified [by the possibility] that these labs will fall into Russian hands…
"Although the Americans tried to claim that these labs are for medical and defensive purposes,[7] they nevertheless raise a suspicion that America created the coronavirus in one of its labs and spread it in China in order to destroy [this country]. Especially considering that the Russians have discovered American biolabs in Ukraine which used birds and reptiles to spread deadly diseases, including bats, which are widely consumed in China and are said to be the source of the virus…
"In the course of the years-long terrorist war against it, Syria managed to expose the American methods of using its terrorist apparatuses to stage chemical [attacks purportedly carried out by Syria]. Now [we] will gain a clearer view of the reprehensible role played by the U.S. in making criminal use of biological warfare agents to spread diseases and epidemics in other countries by means of birds and insects.
"The world must not believe the U.S., and should think a thousand times before accepting any American claim… The world is still suffering from the Covid pandemic, and the suspicions regarding America's role in creating and spreading it are growing. Will the military operation in Ukraine put an end to the American biological war against the world, or will it only be the beginning?"[8]
Syrian Journalist: It Cannot Be Ruled Out That The Coronavirus Was Manufactured By American Labs In Ukraine
Hiba 'Ali Ahmad, a columnist for the state daily Tishreen, also alleged that the U.S. is responsible for creating the coronavirus, writing: "Some may think that all the talk about the coronavirus has stopped since the storm of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis [broke out], with its daily and even hourly developments. But the fact is that this crisis has exposed new findings regarding the coronavirus, mainly that the U.S. has been using this epidemic as a bioweapon, just as it uses all other contagious diseases [in the same manner] when this suits its purposes, and there is extensive historical evidence of this.
"The findings regarding the biolabs in Ukraine are very telling. They confirm many facts that the U.S. wanted to bury, and remind us of many [other] diseases that appeared suddenly and later the commotion around them died down. They became common diseases, and at some point it was revealed that the U.S. had been involved in some stage of their manufacture, during international conflicts. These findings completely expose the U.S. on the moral level, as well as the West, which does its bidding.
"The labs are on Ukrainian soil. Kiev is an ally of the U.S. and [serves as] one of its tools in the vicinity of Russia. This proves that the labs were established with U.S. sponsorship, support and supervision. It cannot be ruled out that the coronavirus was manufactured in them, and we should therefore search for the 'Ukrainian Wuhan' instead of the Chinese Wuhan…
"Such is America. It creates chaos in the world and instigates conflict among neighboring countries. It apparently has a secret plan more deadly and dangerous for mankind than the conventional means and mechanisms of warfare. The research exposed by the Russian Defense Ministry in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which deals with diseases that jump from bats to people and was supervised by the U.S., refute all of America's claims and its accusations against [other] countries, since America is the main culprit and the one who should be convicted…"[9]
Columnist In Syrian Daily: America's Secret Bioweapons Are A Threat To Mankind; It Must Be Brought To Court For This
Lebanese journalist Rif'at Ibrahim Al-Badawi, who writes a weekly column in the pro-regime Syrian daily Al-Watan, also accused the U.S. of spreading deadly diseases around the world and demanded to bring it to justice. He wrote: "The exposure of the biolabs in Ukraine that work for the U.S. Department of Defense and experiment with bat coronaviruses obligate the U.S. to provide humanity with clear and detailed answers about what goes on in these labs. Otherwise it will be regarded as having been convicted of deadly crimes against humanity…
"There is a well-known saying that there is no smoke without fire. But the U.S. has adopted a new method in perpetrating its crimes, that of 'American fire without smoke,' especially since it turned to stealthy biological means to perpetrate mass killing and extermination, instead of noisy and terrifying fighter jets, ballistic missiles or nuclear bombs. America's use of secret labs that experiment in spreading deadly viruses among people constitutes an abhorrent crime against humanity and a direct threat to mankind as a whole. It is vital to establish a reliable legal apparatus that will bring the U.S. to justice, hold it to account and convict it… The actions of the U.S. and the West throughout history show that they have nothing to do with humanity. They do not respect democracy anywhere and are willing to keep extorting countries and subordinating them to [their] hegemony, while intimidating peoples through massacres so as to storm and seize the resources of peoples and countries."[10]
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 9799 - Assad Regime Expresses Unreserved Support For Russia In Ukraine War; 'Our Enemy Is The Same' – March 1, 2022.
[2] For Russian officials voicing such claims, see MEMRI TV Clip No. 9438, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: Biden Wants A Unipolar World; When The West Comes To Its Senses, We Will Remember That It Cannot Be Trusted; Pentagon Biolabs In Ukraine Develop Plague, Anthrax, And Pathogens That Target Russian Ethnic Groups, March18, 2022; MEMRI TV Clip No. 9454, Russian Ambassador To Iraq Elbrus Kutrashev: We Invaded Ukraine Because They Were Planning To Use A Dirty Bomb Against Us; U.S. Bioweapons Labs In Ukraine Are Working To Target Slavic Nationality, March 25, 2022.
The U.S. has forcefully denied these claims (State.gov, March 9, 2022).
[3] Al-Thawra (Syria), March 24, 2022.
[4] Sana.sy, March 23, 2022.
[5] For the claims of the Russian Defense Ministry, see arabic.rt.com, March 10, 2022.
[7] Victoria Nuland, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said on March 8, 2022 at a congressional hearing that "Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces, may be seeking to gain control of. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach" (Nytimes.com, March 11, 2022).
[9] Facebook,com/tishreen.news.sy, March 19, 2022.
[10] Al-Watan (Syria), March 15, 2022.