Nato allies not told of first US strike on Syria

WHEN the US launched airstrikes on Syria last year it failed to notify foreign allies of the plan, claims a new book that details how Rex Tillerson refused to take phone calls from his Nato counterparts as they scrambled to find out what was going on.

The decision last April to fire 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase implicated in a chemical attack was one of Donald Trump’s most consequential decisions of his first months in office.

Yet, Ronan Farrow, author of War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence, details how the administration skipped the conventional step of warning Nato partners.

“When news broke, alarmed allies were calling,” according to the official charged with placing Mr Tillerson’s calls.

Although the then secretary of state was in Washington, staff were told he would not take calls, a source says.