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How we can all help Putin’s embassy taunts Johnson over canned Moscow trip in sick tweet
SIX years of war have devastated Syria and left hundreds of thousands dead. Millions have been driven from their homes and become refugees.
More than a dozen outside powers are now involved in the conflict, including Britain.
The horrific chemical attack in northern Syria last Tuesday was a war crime. Who could fail to be moved by the pictures of children gassed to death with banned chemical weapons?
It demands an urgent independent UN-led investigation and those responsible must be held to account. But Donald Trump’s decision to launch 59 cruise missiles on a Syrian air base will not achieve that – it risks escalating the war.
This is the first US direct action against the Syrian government, which is backed by Russia.
The US is now involved on opposing sides of this terrible war: against President Assad’s regime and several of the armed groups fighting it, while supporting others.
Taking unilateral military action without UN authorisation, or independent verification of responsibility for the chemical attack, is dangerous and against international law.
We have seen, in Iraq and elsewhere, the disastrous costs of being judge and jury in false claims about weapons of mass destruction.
What’s needed is to reconvene the Geneva peace talks and unrelenting international pressure for a negotiated settlement. That will mean US-Russian engagement, along with all the neighbouring states in the Middle East.
The terrible suffering of the Syrian people must end. Every intervention has to be judged by what contribution it makes to that outcome. I urge our government to throw its full weight behind peace negotiations and a political settlement to end the Syrian war. The chemical weapon attack in Idlib made me sick to my stomach. The sight of children choking and dying in the street was heart-breaking.
I have met many Syrian children who have fled the conflict and are now living in Jordan and Lebanon, and sadly they are the lucky ones. They got out. But they are by no means safe. Three million children are in hard to reach areas or living under siege and 2.3million are refugees.
They are in urgent need of food, water and medical care. Unicef is one of a few agencies working in Syria as well as across the region. Join me in helping them. unicef.org.uk/donate/syria But Boris Johnson denied US pressure