No plan yet for fresh Syria attacks, for now: Johnson

london — Western powers will study “options” if Syria’s government again uses chemical weapons, but nothing is planned as yet, Britain’s foreign minister said on Sunday, after raids on Syrian targets triggered heated debate over their legality and effectiveness.

US, French and British missile attacks struck at the heart of Syria’s chemical weapons programme on Saturday in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack a week ago, although the restrained assault appeared unlikely to halt Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s progress in the seven-year-old civil war.

The bombing, denounced by Damascus and its allies as an illegal act of aggression, was the biggest intervention by Western countries against Assad and his powerful ally Russia.

But the three countries said the strikes were limited to Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities and not aimed at toppling Assad or intervening in the civil war.

Speaking on British television, British Foreign Secretary (Minister) Boris Johnson threw his weight behind Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to take part in the attack, saying it was the right thing to do to deter further use of chemical weapons. “There is no proposal on the table at the moment for further attacks because so far thank heavens the Assad regime have not been so foolish as to launch another chemical weapons attack,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.

“If and when such a thing were to happen, then clearly with allies we would study what the options were.”

His comments appeared in line with those of US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, who said at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that Trump told her that if Syria uses poisonous gas again, “The United States is locked and loaded.”

The Western countries said the strikes were aimed at preventing more Syrian chemical weapons attacks after a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7 killed up to 75 people. They blame Assad’s government for the attack.

But British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the legal basis used to support the British role was debatable, adding that he would only support action backed by the United Nations Security Council. “I say to the foreign secretary, I say to the prime minister, where is the legal basis for this?” Corbyn said. “The legal basis ... would have to be self-defence or the authority of the UN Security Council. The humanitarian intervention is a legally debatable concept at the present time,” he said in an interview with the BBC on Sunday.

In Damascus, Assad told a group of visiting Russian lawmakers that Western missile strikes on his country were an act of aggression, Russian news agencies reported.

The agencies quoted the lawmakers as saying Assad was in a “good mood” and had praised the Soviet-era air defence systems used by Syria to help to repel the Western attacks. Assad accepted an invitation to visit the Siberian region of Khanty-Mansi in Russia. It was not clear when the visit would take place. President Donald Trump called the operation a success. He said: “Mission accomplished,” echoing former president George W. Bush, whose use of the same phrase in 2003 to describe the US invasion of Iraq was ridiculed as violence there dragged on for years. “We believe that by hitting Barzeh, in44 particular, we’ve attacked the heart of the Syrian chemicals weapon programme,” US Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said at the Pentagon. —

So far thank heavens the Assad regime have not been so foolish as to launch another chemical weapons attack. If and when such a thing were to happen, then clearly with allies we would study what the options were. Boris Johnson, British Foreign Secretary

If the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons again, the United States is locked and loaded. Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to UN

I say to the foreign secretary, I say to the prime minister, where is the legal basis for this (attack). The legal basis ... would have to be self-defence or the authority of the UN Security Council. Jeremy Corbyn, British opposition leader

Western missile strikes on Syria were an act of aggression. Bashar Al Assad, Syrian President

We believe that by hitting Barzeh, in particular, we’ve attacked the heart of the Syrian chemicals weapon programme Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, Director of US Joint Staff at Pentagon

AFP Syrians pray as buses with Jaish Al Islam fighters and their families on board arrive from their former rebel bastion of douma in eastern Ghouta at the Abu Al zindeen checkpoint controlled by Turkish-backed rebel fighters near the Syrian town of Al...