As Trump weighs response, Russia warns
President cancels Latin America trip as he confers on Syria
WASHINGTON — The Syrian government put its military on alert as President Donald Trump continued Tuesday to weigh a possible U.S. military response to a suspected chemical attack that killed dozens of people outside of Damascus and as an international team of chemical weapons investigators prepared to deploy to Syria.
Trump canceled a trip to Latin America so he could oversee the U.S. response to Saturday’s incident in the town of Douma, and he conferred on Syria in phone calls with the leaders of France and Britain. Trump said Monday that he would decide within 48 hours how best to respond, but the impending visit of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons may push the timetable further out.
The organization did not give a timetable on when inspectors would arrive.
The scheduled deployment of chemical weapons investors followed a request from the Syrian government and its Russian back- Syrians arrive Tuesday at a camp for displaced people after buses carried rebel fighters and their families from the town of Douma, site of Saturday’s suspected chemical attack. ers that appeared to be aimed at averting military action.
Trump had vowed to respond “forcefully” to Saturday's attack. Russian officials warned Tuesday about “grave consequences” from a U.S. strike.
The incident has sparked international outrage and ratcheted up tensions in the already volatile Mideast.
Adding to the tensions, Iran, a strong ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, threatened to respond to an airstrike on a Syrian military base on Monday that the Syrian government, Russia and Iran blamed on Israel.
Seven Iranians were among the estimated 14 people killed in the missile strike, and a senior Iranian official visiting Damascus said the attack “will not remain unanswered.” Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Iran's supreme leader, spoke upon arrival in the Syrian capital on Tuesday.
The Syrian air base was struck by missiles a little more than 24 hours after the alleged chemical attack. Israel does not typically comment on its operations in Syria.
Also Tuesday, Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told Euronews on Tuesday that “Russia has warned U.S. representatives, publicly as well as through proper channels, over the grave consequences that could arise if these strikes happen and whether deliberately or otherwise Russian citizens are hurt.”
Chizhov's comment follows an earlier statement by the chief of the Russian military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who warned that Russia will fire back if the U.S. attacks Syrian government facilities.
As pressure and threats mounted, the United States and Russia used their vetoes at the United Nations Security Council to cancel out each other’s proposals for investigations into the attack and who was responsible.
In Damascus, the government took measures to protect airports and military bases against a possible airstrike. The USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer, arrived in the eastern Mediterranean in recent days.
The United States has been building a circumstantial case, based largely on videos and photographs, that a chemical attack happened and it originated with Syrian government forces. Syria and Russia, the main backer of Assad, have insisted no attack happened and that only the opposition groups they call “terrorists” possess chemical weapons.
At the U.N. Security Council, a U.S.-drafted resolution demanded access to areas in Douma where the attack occurred, and would create a new investigative body “to look into chemical weapons attacks in Syria and determine who is responsible.”
“At a certain point, you’re either for an independent and impartial investigation, or you’re not,” said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “And now that the Douma attack has happened, this is not a decision that we can delay any longer.”
The measure would have passed except for Russia’s veto. Vassily Nebenzia accused the U.S. of stirring up a pretext for intervention.
“You tell us we covering up for someone,” he said, glancing over at Haley after she said Russia would “stop at nothing” to shield the Assad government.
“We are in Syria at the invitation of the legal government, to combat terrorism. Who are you covering up for? You cover up for terrorists.”
A rival Russian-drafted resolution would have left the decision of culpability up to the Security Council — a step that would have allowed Russia or any of the five permanent members to kill it with a veto.