Missiles are ready in Syria crisis

THERESA May last night won cabinet support for military action in Syria as Britain bolstered its defences against possible Russian retaliation.

The UK prime minister was expected to finalise plans for action in late-night talks with America’s Donald Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron last night.

After a two-and-a-half hour emergency meeting, British ministers agreed it was ‘highly likely’ Bashar al-Assad’s regime was behind last weekend’s chemical attack in Douma.

UK officials were last night waiting for the outcome of a meeting of Mr Trump’s National Security Council in Washington. The meeting, chaired by the US president, was expected to take the final decision about exactly when and how to strike. Action is expected within days. And on a day of dramatic developments:

Russia’s UN ambassador said the ‘immediate priority’ was ‘to avert the danger’ of all-out war in Syria, adding that he hoped the situation would not reach the ‘point of no return’;

James Mattis, the US defence secretary, said his main concern about a military response was how to stop it ‘escalating out of control’;

US officials said they had obtained urine and blood samples from victims of the chemical attack and confirmed the presence of chlorine and a nerve agent;

The US was believed to be amassing the largest air and naval strike force since the Iraq war in 2003;

Reports from Syria suggested the government there had started moving its military aircraft to Russian bases on the Mediterranean coast, in anticipation of US strikes;

French president Emmanuel Macron said his country had proof the Syrian government carried out the attack, which aid groups have said killed dozens of people.

Syria’s regime declared victory in the rebelheld town of Douma as fighters surrendered their weapons to Russian military police in extraordinary scenes.

The White House is said to have provisionally selected eight targets in Syria – including two airfields, a research facility, and a chemical weapons facility.

Earlier in the week, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow had warned the US of ‘grave repercussions’ if it carried out an attack. And Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon threatened to attack any launch platforms used to fire weapons, raising the prospect of Western ships and planes being hit.

Sources told CNBC that Syria’s military had repositioned a significant amount of air assets to Russian controlled airfields in the hope that Washington would be reluctant to strike there.

Mr Nebenzia said yesterday the top priority was to avert war in Syria, and he did not rule out the possibility of a US-Russian conflict.

He said Russia was concerned with ‘the dangerous escalation’ of the situation and ‘aggressive policies’ and preparations that some governments were making. He added: ‘We hope that there will be no point of no return – that the US and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state.’

Mr Nebenzia told reporters after a closed emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that ‘the danger of escalation is higher than simply Syria, because our military are there on the invitation of the Syrian government’.

Russia’s foreign ministry warned the US and its allies against assum-

‘Dangerous escalation’

ing the role of a ‘global policeman’. Spokesman Maria Zakharova said Western leaders had no authority to be ‘investigators, prosecutors and executioners’.

Mr Trump said yesterday: ‘We’re having a number of meetings today, we’ll see what happens. Now we have to make some... decisions, so they’ll be made fairly soon.’

Mr Macron said: ‘We have proof that last week... chemical weapons were used, at least with chlorine, and that they were used by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. We will need to take decisions in due course, when we judge it most useful and effective.’

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany will not participate in possible military action in Syria, but supports sending a message that the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable.

Meanwhile, in Britain yesterday, all 24 cabinet ministers present at a meeting agreed on the ‘need to take action’ and said the use of chemical weapons ‘couldn’t go unchallenged’.

Mrs May told the cabinet that last Saturday’s attack in Douma was ‘shocking and barbaric, and killed up to 75 people, including children, ‘in the most appalling and inhuman way’. Ministers agreed with her that the Assad regime ‘has a track record of the use of chemical weapons and it is highly likely that the regime is responsible for Saturday’s attack’, according to Downing Street. The prime minister said it was a further example of the erosion of international law in relation to the use of chemical weapons, adding that it was ‘deeply concerning to us all’. Mrs May went round the table asking every cabinet member for their opinion on the next stage and whether to strike at Assad, despite the fears of a dramatic escalation.

Downing Street said: ‘Cabinet agreed it was vital that the use of

chemical weapons did not go unchallenged.’ The cabinet also agreed ‘on the need to take action to alleviate humanitarian distress and to deter the further use of chemical weapons’.

However, the row over the decision to proceed without a parliamentary vote escalated as veteran Conservative MP Ken Clarke demanded members of parliament be consulted. At present, there are no plans to recall MPs from recess to debate the crisis.

A spokesman said the PM would work with the US and France ‘to co-ordinate an international response’, in a clear sign it would be a three-pronged attack.

The extensive military force, which could soon be within striking distance of Syria, will have to outfox sophisticated Russian air defence radars. Yesterday, amid fears Russia could retaliate against Western forces in the region, British defence chiefs strengthened defences around the RAF base in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

Additionally, a Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyer HMS Duncan was given a ‘warning order’ to move south-east of Cyprus to take up station as an ‘air defence’ ship against any threat from Moscow.