Who does this to a child?
As world recoils at chemical horror in Syria, Trump warns Assad will pay
DONALD Trump last night warned there would be a ‘big price to pay’ after a chemical attack on civilians in Syria left at least 70 dead.
Shocking images of children left fighting for their lives were beamed around the world following the apparent gas attack on Saturday evening.
The US President branded the horror in a rebel-held Damascus suburb ‘sick’, as he indicated he could respond with military action and blamed Vladimir Putin for backing the ‘animal Assad’.
His homeland security adviser Thomas Bossert did not rule out the possibility of a missile strike on Assad’s forces, saying: ‘I wouldn’t take anything off the table ... We’re looking into the attack at this point.’
More than 500 civilians – mostly women and children – are said to be injured following the attack in Douma, with many of those seen at medical centres having difficulty breathing.
Shocking footage emerged of lifeless men, women and children sprawled on floors and in stairwells, many with white foam coming from their mouths and nostrils. Among the distressing clips was a father begging his dead daughter to wake up and children being hosed down in a hospital.
Emergency workers said families had been hiding in their basements following earlier airstrikes and the gas seeped through the buildings and suffocated them.
The alleged attack came almost exactly a year after another Syrian chemical attack on civilians, which prompted Mr Trump to launch a missile strike on a Syrian air base.
Boris Johnson demanded an urgent investigation and warned Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s allies in Moscow not to ‘obstruct’ the probe. The Foreign Secretary said reports of a large scale chemical weapons attack were ‘deeply disturbing’, adding: ‘It is truly horrific to think that many of the victims were reportedly families seeking refuge from air strikes in underground shelters. These latest reports must urgently be investigated and the international community must respond.’
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said children had been ‘martyred’, and lashed out against ‘the West’ and Assad’s allies, saying: ‘When will you turn round and look at these children, these women who are being killed in Eastern Ghouta?’
Last night UK and foreign officials were working to determine who was behind the attack, and sources said talks were not yet at a stage where a response was being discussed. The UN Security Council is expected to meet this afternoon.
In a series of tweets, Mr Trump said: ‘Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria.
‘President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay.
‘Another humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever. SICK!’
The attack came after a monthslong push by the Syrian government to retake a group of towns east of Damascus known as Eastern Ghouta. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 1,600 have been killed since the government and its allies began bombarding the area. Douma is the last town still controlled by rebels. In a statement on state-run news agency SANA, the Assad government denied responsibility.
‘Families seeking refuge in shelters’