Germany not to join strikes but support allies, says Merkel

BERLIN — Germany will not join any military strikes against Syria in response to a suspected poison gas attack on an opposition enclave, but supports Western efforts to show the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

“Germany will not take part in possible — there have not been any decisions yet, I want to stress that — military action,” Merkel said after meeting Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in Berlin.

“But we support everything that is being done to show that the use of chemical weapons is not acceptable,” she added.

In Dublin, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Germany expects to be consulted before any Western allies conduct an attack on Syrian President Bashar alAssad’s forces as the allies must be united on the matter.

Earlier, Merkel spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron about the suspected gas attack and expressed her concern that the international community’s ability to ban chemical weapons was eroding, her spokesman said.

US President Donald Trump warned Russia on Wednesday that missiles “will be coming” in response to the April 7 gas attack, which aid groups said killed dozens of people, and lambasted Moscow for standing by Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

Norbert Roettgen, chairman of the German parliamentary foreign affairs committee and an ally of Merkel’s, said: “Shamefully, there is still no policy from the EU — or even individual EU states — for the Middle (East) countries.

“If it came to military strikes with the participation of France and Britain, that is still not a policy.” —