U.S. warns Syria about chemical weapons attack

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration threatened Tuesday that Syria will pay “a heavy price” if it follows through on what the U.S. says are preparations for another chemical weapons attack — warning of action that could plunge America deeper into a civil war alongside the fight against Islamic State militants.

The chemical threat and sudden White House warning illustrate the challenging complexities of the fighting in Syria, a country whose territory was used by ISIL to march into Iraq in 2014 and prompt a U.S. return to the Middle East’s battlefield. Washington now has more than 5,000 troops in Iraq and about 1,000 in Syria.

President Donald Trump has said he won’t stand for Syria’s use of chemical weapons, which are banned under international law and are worrisome because they could fall into extremists’ hands.

The Pentagon on Tuesday said it detected “active preparations” by Syria for a chemical attack from the same airbase where Syrian aircraft embarked on a sarin gas strike on April 4, killing almost 90 people. Days later, Trump ordered a cruise missile attack against the base.

The Syrian government has denied it ever used banned chemicals, and on Tuesday it rejected Washington’s latest allegation.

Syria’s two main allies, Russia and Iran, joined in bashing Washington. Iran’s foreign minister called the U.S. threat a “dangerous escalation.” A senior Russian lawmaker accused the U.S. of a “provocation.”

It was unclear if the U.S. saw a Syrian attack as imminent. Since Trump’s inauguration, U.S. involvement in Syria has deepened. Earlier this month, the U.S. shot down for the first time a Syrian fighter jet. It has twice downed Iranian drones.

The cruise missile strike in April was the first intentional American assault on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government or military.

The White House issued a brief written statement Monday night saying it had detected potential preparations for another chemical attack and emphasizing the Syrian government would “pay a heavy price” if it proceeded.

Chemical weapons have killed hundreds of people since the start of Syria’s six-year civil war. The UN has blamed three attacks on Assad’s government and a fourth on the Islamic State group. The U.S. and its Arab and Western allies, and Syrian opposition groups, accuse Assad’s forces of many more instances of using sarin and chlorine against civilians.