May ‘ready to back military action on Syria’ after suspected chemical attack
THERESA May is ready to give the go-ahead for Britain to take part in military action in response to the suspected chemical weapon attack in Syria, it was claimed last night.
The Prime Minister edged closer to backing a Western military strike, saying the perpetrators of the gas attack on Douma must be “held to account”.
Mrs May said the Government was “rapidly reaching” a conclusion about where blame for the atrocity lies.
She will not seek prior parliamentary approval because she favours taking action soon, it was claimed by BBC sources. A spokesman for Mrs May declined to comment on the reports.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had earlier said Parliament should be given a say on any military action the Prime Minister wants to take.
Mrs May has so far not formally blamed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime for the suspected gas attack which allegedly killed about 70 people in Douma at the weekend.
Questioned about the international crisis during a visit to Birmingham yesterday, she acknowledged that evidence increasingly pointed towards Damascus.
She said: “All the indications are that the Syrian regime was responsible and we will be working with our closest allies on how we can ensure that those who are responsible are held to account and how we can prevent and deter the humanitarian catastrophe that comes from the use of chemical weapons in the future.
“The continued use of chemical weapons cannot go unchallenged.”
Mrs May also visited the Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sikh temple in Walsall during her visit yesterday.
She sidestepped questions about US President Donald Trump’s aggressive views in the stand-off.
And she admitted to being “appalled” but “not surprised” by Russia’s decision to veto a draft resolution at the United Nations on Tuesday which sought to create a new body to determine responsibility for the attack.
Mrs May, who has declined calls for a recall of Parliament from the Easter break, yesterday faced fresh pressure for a Commons vote
before any strike. Mr Corbyn said: “Parliament should always be given a say on military action.
“That’s a case that I’ve made going back many, many years in Parliament. Obviously, the situation is very serious, obviously there has to be, now, a demand for a political process to end the war in Syria.”
The Labour leader also warned against a “bombardment which leads to escalation and leads to a hot war between Russia and America over the skies of Syria”.
Mr Corbyn called for a renewed effort to re-start peace talks in Syria to “get every country, including the US and Russia, as well as the neighbouring states, around the table in Geneva to bring about a political solution”.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the Government will confer with allies what steps “if any” are to be taken in response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria.
Speaking at a cyber security conference in Manchester, she said: “I think this was, as we all saw on our screens, a terribly tragic event with up to, we believe, 75 people dead, as a result of what is highly likely to have been a chemical attack.”
She added: “I’m afraid I can’t be drawn any further than that because that’s the step we have got to at the moment and I’m not going to go any further into hypothetical questions.”
A former head of the Army said diplomatic efforts must continue alongside any action over the suspected attack.
Lord Dannatt said: “A strike on its own would just be a strike and potentially nothing else.”