Assad preparing another chemical attack, will pay heavy price, White House warns
Russia brands warning to Syria ‘unacceptable’
WASHINGTON: Syrian President Bashar Assad may be preparing another chemical weapons attack, one that would result in the “mass murder” of civilians, the White House said Monday, warning the regime would pay a “heavy price” if it went ahead with such an assault.
US and allied intelligence officers have for some time identified several sites where they suspected Assad’s regime may have been hiding newly made chemical weapons from inspectors, said a US official familiar with the intelligence.
The assessment was based in part on the locations, security surrounding the suspect sites and other information, which the official refused to describe.
The White House warning, the official said, was based on new reports of what was described as abnormal activity that might be associated with preparations for a chemical attack.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Twitter: “Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia and Iran who support him killing his own people.”
The White House said the preparations were similar to those undertaken by the Assad regime ahead of an apparent chemical attack on an opposition-held town in April.
Washington launched a retaliatory cruise missile strike days later against a Syrian air base from where it said the chemical weapons attack was launched.
That assault with 59 Tomahawk missiles marked the first direct US attack on the Syrian regime and Trump’s most dramatic military action since he took power in January.
It also led to a quick downward spiral in ties between Washington and Moscow, which accused the US of breaking international law.
Russia has supported the Syrian regime since 2015 with airstrikes against what it says are extremists.
“The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement Monday.
“As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Daesh),” Spicer added in his statement.
“If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”
The two-paragraph communique did not offer any evidence justifying the warning.
“The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack,” it said.
The suspected attack in April in the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhun killed at least 87 people, including many children.
Images of the dead and suffering victims provoked global outrage. The US State Department said it amounted to a war crime.
State Department officials who would normally be involved in a big announcement such as Monday’s warning to Syria said they were caught by surprise, the Los Angeles Times reported.
British Foreign Minister Michael Fallon told the BBC Tuesday he would support US military action in case of a Syria chemical attack.
“As always in war, the military action you use must be justified, it must be legal, it must be proportionate, it must be necessary. In sternly worded the last case it was,” Fallon said.
“If the Americans take similar action again, I want to be very clear — we will support it.”
Russia denounced the US warning and dismissed White House assertions that a strike was being prepared as “unacceptable.”
“I am not aware of any information about a threat that chemical weapons can be used,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Certainly, we consider such threats to the legitimate leadership of the Syrian Arab Republic unacceptable.”
Franz Klintsevich, deputy chairman of the defense commission of the upper house of the Russian Parliament, said the US warning heralded a new attack on Syrian forces under the pretext of the alleged preparations for a chemical attack.
“This is clear. A cynical and unprecedented provocation is under way,” he said in Moscow.