We are locked and loaded, United States tells Syria
* Algeria, Egypt against western air strikes in Syria
THE United States has warned it “is locked and loaded” to strike Syria if there are any more chemical attacks, hours after more than 100 bombs targeted facilities in Damascus and Homs said to be associated with the use of chemical weapons.
Speaking to an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Saturday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said: “If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the America is locked and loaded.
“When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line.”
America, UK and France targeted three sites across Syria on Saturday, including: The Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre in Damascus’ Barzeh district, the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Storage Facility, 20km west of Homs and the Him Shinshar Chemical Weapons Bunker Facility, just more than 7km from the storage facility.
Haley said America and its allies “acted, not as revenge” but to “deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the Syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity”.
However, her Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia called on the Security Council to condemn the attacks.
“Today is not the day to shirk your responsibilities,” he said. “The whole world is looking at you. Take a principled stand.”
But Russia failed to garner the necessary votes, and was instead handed a stinging diplomatic defeat.
Only three countries - Russia, China and Bolivia - backed the resolution, which called America, and its allies’ strikes an “aggression” against Syria.
Eight countries voting against, and four countries abstained - Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Peru and Equatorial Guinea.
“Today is a very sad day for the world, the UN, its charter, which was blatantly, blatantly violated,” Nebenzia said.
Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s ambassador to UN said the strikes were an “attack against international law,” and called on the three countries to stop supporting “terrorists” in Syria.
He said members of the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, arrived on Saturday in Damascus and were to meet Syrian authorities.
“My government will, of course, provide every support to this delegation for it to carry out its mission successfully,” Jaafari said.
The attacks on Saturday came in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend.
Around 70 civilians suffocated to death as they tried to seek shelter from government air raids and barrel bombs.
Trump took to Twitter and thanked France and the UK for “their wisdom and the power of their fine military” in an early morning Tweet.
“A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the UK for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!”
A Pentagon briefing later said the attacks had “set the Syrian chemical weapons programme back for years”.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the strikes as an “act of aggression” and warned they could worsen the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
Only 10 days ago, Trump told national security aides that he wanted American forces out of Syria in about six months.
Trump was adamant that it was time to bring them home after largely defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.
“Very soon, very soon, we’re coming out,” Trump said to a crowd in Richfield, Ohio, on March 30.
“We’re going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be,” he said.
Meanwhile, Algeria has criticised air strikes carried out by the United States (U.S.), France and Britain against Syria, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said on Saturday.
United States (U.S.), British and French forces struck Syria with more than 100 missiles on Saturday, targeting what they called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for a poison gas attack. “Algeria can only regret the strikes,” Ouyahia told reporters.
He added that it was neces- sary to wait for the findings of an investigation into the alleged chemical attack before taking any steps.
Egypt also voiced its concern about the latest military escalation in Syria, saying it would negatively affect the safety of Syrian people.
A statement released by the Egyptian Foreign ministry condemned the use of chemical weapons.
“Egypt totally rejects the use of any internationally prohibited weapons on Syrian territories, demanding a transparent international investigation,” the statement read.
The air strikes on Saturday were the biggest by Western powers against Assad in the country’s seven-year-old civil war and pitted the United States (U.S.) and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad.