US warns Syria against yet another chemical attack, Assad denies claim
WASHINGTON: The White House issued a stern warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday night as it claimed “potential” evidence that Syria was preparing for another chemical weapons attack.
In an ominous statement issued with no supporting evidence or further explanation, press secretary Sean Spicer said the US had “identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”
He said the activities were similar to preparations taken before an April 2017 attack that killed dozens of men, women and children, and warned that if “Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”
The White House offered no details on what prompted the warning and spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said she had no additional information.
SYRIA DENIES WHITE HOUSE ALLEGATIONS Syrian minister for national reconciliation Ali Haidar dismissed the White House statement claiming that the charges foreshadowed a new diplomatic campaign against Syria at the UN.
The Kremlin also dismissed the statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “such threats to Syria’s legitimate leaders are unacceptable.”
ASSAD VISITS RUSSIAN AIRBASE IN SYRIA President Bashar al-Assad hailed Moscow’s support on Tuesday as he toured the airbase in western Syria set up for a Russian intervention .
Increasingly confident after his forces scored a series of victories against rebels, Assad has made several visits outside Damascus during this week’s Eid al-Fitr holidays, the longest he has spent away from the capital since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011.
At the Hmeimim base south of the coastal city of Latakia, Assad met Russian military officials and inspected equipment.
“The Syrian people will not forget the support of their Russian brothers,” Assad wrote in the base visitors’ book.