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For two weeks now, Defense Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and Pompeo have been urging Assad and his allies not to wage an offensive into Idlib province. That message was also communicated in person to the Russian ambassador in Washington by Amb. David Satterfield, top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, and Amb. Jim Jeffrey, the new Special Representative for Syria Engagement.

But the U.S.'s strongest words have been saved for a warning that the U.S. would respond to another chemical weapons attack, as it did after the attacks in Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 and Douma in April 2018. Each attack killed nearly a hundred civilians, including women and children.

In response to the Douma attack earlier this year, the U.S., France, and the United Kingdom launched targeted airstrikes at three locations related to chemical weapons development. The Assad regime has denied the use of chemical weapons and delayed independent chemical weapons inspectors' access to the site of the attack.

For weeks, Moscow has attempted to portray the U.S. and its partners as the ones actually planning to stage a chemical weapons attack in Idlib as a pretext for again striking Assad.

\"This is absurd,\" Pentagon spokesperson Navy Cmdr. Sean Robertson told ABC News in a statement on Friday. \"That Russia is seeking to plant false lies about chemical weapons use suggests that Moscow is seeking to deflect from its own culpability when these heinous weapons are used. Russia's efforts to obscure the truth only underscore its years-long role in abetting the murder and mayhem conducted by the Assad regime.\"

After the Douma attack, the Russian government said it had evidence that the chemical weapons attack was \"staged,\" despite U.S. intelligence assessments that it was conducted by the Syrian regime with knowledge by the Russians.

ABC News' Luis Martinez contributed to this report from the Pentagon.

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