Putin: Obama must think of victims before attacking Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin called his American counterpart Barack Obama not to forget that he holds a Nobel Peace Prize, and urged him to think about the victims of a possible war on Syria. "I would like to say to Obama as a Nobel Peace Prize winner: before you use force in Syria, you should think of the victims that will fall," Putin said, pointing out that "Russia calls for deep thinking before making a decision of operation in Syria". "Common sense notes that with the advancement of the Syrian government forces, call for military intervention is nonsense and does not correspond with any logic, especially on the day of the UN inspectors' arrival," the Russian President added, the Islam Times reported. "I'm sure it was just a provocation by those who seek to drag other countries into the Syrian conflict and want to gain support from the international parties, first and foremost, the United States of course," he stated. The US and other western countries have adopted the rhetoric of war against Syria over allegations that the Syrian government was behind a recent chemical attack near Damascus. The call for military strike intensified after the militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed on August 21 that hundreds had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar. The Syrian government has strongly denied the claim, accusing the militants of the attack.