Israel ‘warned’ US of strike, Russia says left in the dark
Trump says he will make decision on military response following Saturday night’s fatal Syria chemical attack
Israel gave the United States advance warning of its strike early Monday morning on a military base in Syria, according to initial reports, while the Kremlin charged that Russia was not informed.
Israel has not made any statement on the strike. The US, France and Great Britain have also said they were not involved in the operation.
The attack came two days after Syrian government forces allegedly gassed at least 60 civilians to death in a chemical-weapons attack in Douma.
Defense analysts say there are large deployments of Russian forces at the T-4 base, and Russian jets fly regular sorties from there to strike rebel-held areas such as Douma.
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis warned Monday that he has not ruled out American military action in response to the chemical -weapons attack.
US President Donald Trump said he was meeting with military and other advisers and that a decision would be made within 48 hours, possibly coming as soon as the end of the day.
“Nothing is off the table,” he said when asked if US military action was a possibility.
Asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin bore any responsibility for the attack, Trump said, “He may, yeah, he may. And if he does it’s going to be very tough, very tough.”
The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied involvement in the chemical-weapons attack and charged that reports of chemical use were false.
The UN Security Council in New York was set to meet late Monday afternoon to discuss the attacks.
On Sunday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman indicated that when it comes to Syria, he always operates under the assumption that Israel has to act alone.
Two US officials told NBC News that Israel carried out the strike and that the US was informed in advance.
Russia and Syria have also accused Israel of striking the Tiyas Military Airbase, also known as the T-4.
Located near Homs, it is Syria’s largest airbase and is believed to house an Iranian complex that supplies arms to Tehran’s ally, Lebanon’s
Shi’ite Hezbollah. It is believed that Israel also hit the same base in February.
To prevent any clash between Moscow and Jerusalem with regard to Syria, Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu established a “deconfliction” mechanism in September 2015.
Jerusalem has said repeatedly in the past that it will not allow Iran to build a permanent military presence inside Syria and that the air force has struck arms convoys transferring weapons from Iran to Hezbollah.
In spite of the Kremlin’s statement, diplomatic officials stressed on Monday that the Israeli-Russian deconfliction mechanism has not broken down as a result of the strike on the T-4 and the hotline between Jerusalem and Moscow is still in operation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Putin had no contact with Israel with regard to the air strikes, the Russian media website Sputnik International reported.
The Russian Defense and Foreign ministries have demanded an explanation from Israel, according to Sputnik.
According to the Russian News Agency TASS, Foreign Minister Dimitry Lavrov told reporters that the strike could have dangerous consequences. “I hope at least the military of the US and those countries which are part of the US-led coalition understands this.”
He had a similar reply to US warnings Sunday about a possible military strike in response to the chemical attack.
Dmitri Trenin, the director of Carnegie’s Moscow Center tweeted: “The US and Russia are now closer to a direct collision between their military forces than at any time since the Cold War. The only question on my mind: Will Russia hit back at the US when it launches strikes against Damascus?”
According to reports from the Russian Defense Ministry and Syrian media, two Israeli F-15 combat jets launched eight missiles at the air base from Lebanese airspace. Syrian forces shot down five of the missiles and three others hit their targets.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 14 people were killed in the strikes, including three Iranians.
Four Iranian military personnel were also killed in an air strike on a Syrian air base on Sunday, Iran’s Fars news agency said.
Some Iranian media reported that one of those killed was a member of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, a division that operates drones.
Reuters contributed to this report. •