IT MAY BE WAR
PM’s Syria threats
BRITAIN was last night on the brink of war as RAF fighters and Royal Navy submarines were made ready to blast Syria over its suspected gas attack.
Armed Forces chiefs were waiting for the green light from Theresa May to launch strikes against the Russian-backed regime without the general support of Parliament.
The PM summoned an emergency cabinet meeting at No 10 to discuss joining forces with the US. Downing Street later gave no details but said: “Cabinet agreed on the need to take action to deter further use of chemical weapons.”
Assault
Ministry of Defence chiefs refused to comment on reports UK submarines were ordered into range to launch Tomahawk cruise missile strikes.
The moves come after it is believed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad gassed his own citizens to death, including dozens of children, in Douma on Saturday. Russia dismissed the attack as “fake news”.
But France’s President Emmanuel Macron backed the UK and also said he has “proof ” of the horror chlorine assault.
Vladimir Putin’s war vessels immediately fled the Tartus naval base in Syria “for their own safety”, Russian lawmaker Vladimir Shamanov said last night.
However, after tweeting that “missiles were on the way”, US President Donald Trump yesterday wrote more cautiously: “Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has demanded a vote in Parliament before any UK military action.
He warned the danger could “escalate the conflict beyond belief ”.
Mr Corbyn said: “Just imagine the scenario if an American missile shoots down a Russian plane or vice versa. Where do we go from there?”
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said Parliament “should be recalled immediately” to vote on the issue.
Mrs May does not have to hold a vote in the Commons but it has become convention to do so since the 2003 Iraq war.
A Kremlin-owned news channel yesterday advised Russians on the best supplies to take into bomb shelters.
Presenter Alexey Kazakov added: “Chocolates, sweets, condensed milk, all this will have to be left behind.”
IT looks increasingly likely the Government will intervene in Syria after President Assad’s chemical attack.
What’s clear is we cannot sit by and watch despicable despots brutalise innocent civilians.
And while Britain has understandably pulled back from war in recent years, the current situation calls for a slightly different tack.
Just last month, superpowers around the world backed Britain following the Salisbury spy poisoning. They followed our lead and expelled Russian diplomats in their droves to hurt Putin.
It may be time to step up and show our support for our allies.
But all those involved should heed the words of Defence Select Committee chair Julian Lewis MP, who fears striking against Assad could play into the hands of al-Qaeda.
“What we’ve got here in Syria is a choice,” he said. “Monsters on the one hand and maniacs on the other.”
Britain’s had this choice before. But politicians didn’t have enough of a plan for what happened after in Iraq and Afghanistan – and we got sucked into a mess.
Let’s make sure we’ve learnt from lessons of the past.