US threat to strike Syria over bombing of Ghouta
The United States has threatened to carry out unilateral attacks on Syria if President Assad continues to bombard the rebel pocket of eastern Ghouta.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said that Russia had not kept the commitment it made when it agreed a ceasefire over Syria last month. She reminded the UN security council that last April President Trump ordered airstrikes in response to a chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime on the town of Khan Sheikhoun. “The security council failed to act,” she said. “The United States struck the airbase from which Assad had launched his chemical attack. We repeat this warning.”
“We also warn any nation determined to impose its will through chemical attacks and inhuman suffering, most especially the outlaw Syrian regime. The United States remains prepared to act if we must. It is not the path we prefer but it is a path we have demonstrated we will take, and we are prepared to take it again.”
Russia claimed that rebels in eastern Ghouta were preparing to fake a chemical weapons attack to give the US a pretext to strike regime sites in Damascus. “In the event of a threat to the lives of our servicemen, Russia’s armed forces will take retaliatory measures against the missiles
and launchers used,” Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of staff, said.......