The U.S. Navy was moving an additional Tomahawk missile-armed ship within striking range of Syria as President Donald Trump and his national security aides mulled the scope and timing of an expected military assault in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack.
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In a later tweet the US President appealed to his Russian counterpart Mr Putin to “stop the arms race”.
Syria and its main ally, Russia, have denied that any chemical weapons were used and gave permission for the OPCW to investigate.
United States allies have rallied behind President Donald Trump’s warning that Syria would pay a “big price” if it is found to have carried out a chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma. In the past 12 days alone, 12,000 people left the city, Syria’s state news agency said.
In the days leading up to the US attack, Russian Federation had warned that it would defend its troops in Syria. “You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”
Asked in a TV interview whether France would join strikes on Syria, Macron said, “We will need to take decisions in due course, when we judge it to be most useful and effective”, according to Agence France Presse.
“The most important thing is to refrain from ill-considered and risky actions that would constitute a gross violation of the UN Charter and would have unpredictable consequences”, Putin’s office said in a statement after he and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone. The administration said previously any response Assad’s alleged chemical weapons use would be done in consultation with allies.
Syria’s President Bashar Assad announced after a US military strike that his country would respond, while Russia’s ambassador to Washington warned of unspecified “consequences”. Over the next year, a civil war with hundreds of factions formed in rebellion.
The U.S. airstrike on Syria Friday night is creating a tense tug-of-war in the already strained relations with Russian Federation, which has sent its warships into the Mediterranean to keep a close eye on their American naval adversaries.
The British Cabinet has unanimously backed Theresa May’s warning that Syria’s use of chemical weapons can not go unchallenged, leaving the way open for British participation in military action against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Russia, in addition to its unproven allegations against Britain, alleged the West was feigning outrage over the attack as a cover for a plan to overthrow Assad’s government.
She called on Mr. Trump to “come to Congress and secure an Authorization for Use of Military Force” with “a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians”. “There is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime”, she said.
“If there is a USA missile attack, we – in line with both Putin and Russia’s chief of staff’s remarks – will shoot down USA rockets and even the sources that launched the missiles”, Zasypkin told al Manar.
The angry response came after the United States and allies fired missiles into the Syrian capital in an hour-long strike aimed at chemical weapons operations. During one speech, he said, “We must as a nation be more unpredictable”.
U.S. Defense Secretary Gen. Jim Mattis, striking a cautious tone hours after Trump’s threat of missile strikes, said the United States was assessing intelligence about the suspected attack.
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Pentagon planners are likely to hit similar targets this year, but they could expand their list to attack the pilots and commanders who ordered the use of chemical weapons, the former official said. On Thursday, however, he tweeted: “Never said when an attack on Syria would take place”.
