After last week’s deadly chemical weapons attack and the retaliatory U.S. missile strike, USA ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says there can be no peace in Syria until Mr Assad is ousted. Under President Barack Obama, the United States accused Russian Federation of supporting Assad in war crimes against civilians and of employing a sophisticated disinformation campaign to protect its ally.
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“It’s very hard to understand how a political solution could result from the continuation of the Assad regime”.
It would be interesting to note that the past administrations efforts in getting the blessing of congress for an armed engagement in Syria, either against the ISIS terror organization or al-Assad’s government, were futile.
The incident has chilled USA relations with Moscow after a presidential campaign during which Trump frequently called for an alliance with Russian Federation to fight Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
He added: “They agreed that US Secretary of State (Rex) Tillerson’s visit to Moscow this week provides an opportunity to make progress towards a solution which will deliver a lasting political settlement”.
But he also said there had been “no change to our military posture” in Syria following the U.S. airbase strike and that Washington’s “first priority” in Syria was to defeat so-called Islamic State (IS).
The move came as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned that senior Russian military officers involved in co-ordinating President Assad’s campaign of repression against his own people could face global sanctions.
“Well this is part of the problem in Syria, is Russia’s sponsorship of this murderous regime”, McMaster said on “Fox News Sunday”.
It is unclear, however, if Syria still has chemical weapons.
The officials had no comment on whether Russian Federation might have colluded with Syria on the attack. “The American response was swift, just and well-calibrated”.
“We are very confident that terrorists or nonstate actors did not commit the attack”, a senior administration official said, noting that they do not have sarin, the nerve agent believed used in the attack. “Stockpiles and continued use, demonstrate that Russian Federation has failed in its responsibility to deliver on its 2013 commitment”, he said. “But, at this point in time, that is a very significant contribution Australia is making”. Putin has been Assad’s top global backer since 2015 amid a brutal civil war that has dragged on six years now. And I think that Russian Federation has been party to several worldwide agreements that Syria is not holding up to.
They seemed to reflect Mr Tillerson’s expectation, which he has expressed privately to aides and members of Congress, that the U.S. relationship with Russian Federation is already reverting to the norm: one of friction, distrust and mutual efforts to undermine each other’s reach. “It is long overdue”. “They are clearly ignoring the evidence, which is available worldwide”.
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The two leaders spoke about the crisis by telephone, days after a U.S. air strike against a Syrian airbase.
