The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘Big price to pay’ after suspected gas attack
Bid to establish if assault on rebel-held town involved Russian assistance
Russia must be “held to account” alongside Syria if Bashar Assad’s regime is found to be responsible for the poison gas attack in Douma, Theresa May has warned.
Branding the atrocity “horrific” and “absolutely appalling”, the Prime Minister said international allies were working “urgently” on investigating the assault on the Syrian rebel-held town.
An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was being held last night in response and US President Donald Trump has warned there will be a “big price to pay”.
At least 40 people are reported to have died and if it is confirmed chemical weapons have been used by the regime it risks escalating the crisis in the region.
Mrs May warned Russia, a supporter of the Syrian government, that it will face repercussions as well as Assad.
At a press conference during a visit to Denmark, she said: “If they are found to be responsible, the regime and its backers, including Russia, must be held to account.”
She added: “What we are urgently doing with our allies is assessing what has taken place.
“Obviously, if this is a chemical weapons attack of the sort the initial reports suggest that it is, this is another example of the Assad regime’s brutality and the brazen way in which they have ignored the interests of their people.
“I think this is a reprehensible attack that has taken place.”
She added: “This is horrific, the pictures of what has happened there.
“It is an absolutely appalling attack and if this is at the hands of the Assad regime, it is yet another example of the brutality of that regime and the way in which they have treated their own people.”
The PM said the attack in Douma was part of a “troubling wider pattern of acts of aggression”.
President Donald Trump has condemned the “heinous” attack and said he will make a decision on the US response within 24 to 48 hours.
Speaking in the White House Cabinet Room, Mr Trump vowed to find out who is responsible for the attack.
Mr Trump said during a Cabinet meeting with reporters: “If it’s Russia, if it’s Syria, if it’s Iran, if it’s all of them together, we’ll figure it out.”