US, two allies launch attack on Syrian sites
Coordinated strike by US, Britain, France; Russia seeks emergency meeting of UN security council, India calls for show of restraint
WASHINGTON: The United States said on Saturday it “dealt a severe blow” to the “heart” of Syria’s chemical weapons infrastructure in a joint military strike it carried out early in the morning with allies Britain and France in retaliation for a suspected gas attack earlier in the month that killed more than 40 people and injured hundreds.
The US and its allies have accused Syria’s Bashar al-Assad of ordering a chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town Douma, just outside Damascus, on April 7 that killed more than 40 people. They have alleged the Syrian government used chlorine gas in that attack, and possibly others.
“The targets we selected were at the heart of the Syrian regime’s illegal chemical weapons program,” US ambassador to UN Nikki Haley said at an emergency meeting of the Security Council called by Russia to condemn the allied action. She added, quoting President Donald Trump: “If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is ‘locked and loaded’.”
Earlier, Trump had called the chemical attack “crimes of a monster”. “Mission accomplished,” he wrote on Twitter on Saturday, forgetting perhaps that the last time a US president used those two words, things had not gone too well — President George W Bush declared victory in the Iraq war just weeks after the 2003 invasion but the conflict dragged on for years.
Syria’s chief allies, Russia and Iran, called the use of force by the United States, Britain and France a “military crime” and “act of aggression” with the potential to worsen a humanitarian crisis after years of civil war. The UN Security Council planned to meet later Saturday at Moscow’s request.
“Good souls will not be humiliated,” Syrian President Bashar Assad tweeted, while hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus, the capital, where they flashed victory signs and waved flags in scenes of defiance.
Officials in the Indian government said the situation was being closely monitored.
“The alleged use of chemical weapons, if true, is deplorable. We call for an impartial and objective investigation by the OPCW to establish the facts,” said a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, adding that New Delhi would also urge all parties to “show restraint” and avoid any “further escalation” in the situation. OPCW is short for Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
“The matter should be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, and on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter and in accordance with international law,” said the official.