Syria denies using chemical weapons in civil war

THE HAGUE: Syria on Monday denied ever using chemical weapons in its four-year-old civil war, telling a global watchdog it was cooperating fully with the destruction of its toxic stockpile.

Damascus's rebuttal comes amid growing accusations it is not being transparent with the world's chemical watchdog and as United Nations efforts are stepped up to track down the perpetrators of deadly chlorine gas attacks in the war-torn country last year.