The latest war of words between Washington, Moscow, and Damascus occurred on Thursday. The Syrian government of President Assad along with their Russian allies accused the United States of manufacturing a “provocation” in Syria. This was to be blamed on Assad and his government of preparing a chemical weapons attack as an excuse for the US and the coalition troops to attack.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry described the US allegations as “misleading” and “completely baseless.” It strongly stated that they reject the US’ claims that Syria is preparing for another chemical attack. The Syrians claim, that they’ve never used chemical weapons at all.

It said the objective of such allegations was to “justify a new aggression on Syria under ill-founded pretexts,” similar to what happened in April when the U.S. struck a Syrian air base, which it said had been used to stage a chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed nearly 90.

Earlier this week, the White House has warned that Assad is preparing for another chemical attack and said that the Syrian ruler will “pay a heavy price” if he unleashes it.