Syria warned on chemical attacks

US, France vow joint action on potential strike

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron agreed on Tuesday on a joint response in the event of another chemical attack in Syria, as Washington warned that Damascus would pay a “heavy price” for such a move.

The tough language, in a phone call between the two leaders, came a day after the White House accused President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of preparing a potential chemical weapons attack.

Washington’s warning to Damascus – which prompted criticism from regime allies Russia and Iran – coincided with a wave of US-led coalition air strikes that killed nearly 60 people at a Syrian prison run by the Islamic State group.

The coalition has been striking IS in Syria and Iraq since mid-2014 but has also been involved in recent confrontations with Assad’s forces, raising fears of the US being drawn into Syria’s civil war.

A Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday that US intelligence had noticed suspect activity at the launch site of an apparent chemical strike by the regime two months ago.

The April attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun was reported to have killed at least 87 people, including children, and images of the dead and of suffering victims provoked global outrage.

Washington launched a retaliatory cruise missile strike days later against the Shayrat airbase where it said the attack was launched – the first direct US action against the regime.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer warned on Monday night that if “Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price”.

Trump and Macron agreed on Tuesday on “the need to work on a joint response in the event of a chemical attack in Syria”.

After a meeting last month with Assad’s ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Macron had drawn a “very clear red line” on the use of chemical weapons in Syria and warned of reprisals.

America’s warning drew condemnation both from the Kremlin, which said it considered “such threats against the Syrian leadership to be unacceptable”, and from Tehran.

“Another dangerous US escalation in Syria on fake pretext will only serve Isis, precisely when it’s being wiped out by Iraqi and Syrian people,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Coalition forces on the ground have accused proregime fighters of targeting them in recent weeks. — AFP