Chemical attack (Syria) - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Germany could join a military alliance with the US, UK, and France if Syria tries another chemical attack

Karina Moessbauer, BILD — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 08:36:41 +0000

A German air force Tornado jet takes off from the German army Bundeswehr airbase in Jagel, northern Germany December 10, 2015. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

Germany is exploring the possibility of joining a military alliance with the US, France, and the United Kingdom against Syria, according to BILD.
Germany had previously ruled out participation in “military actions,” but is now considering a radical change.
The German defense ministry would join the alliance if Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against the Syrian population.

Against the backdrop of potential chemical attacks by the Syrian regime in the province of Idlib, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen is exploring how Germany can engage in military retaliatory actions against the army of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

BILD has learned the German Ministry of Defense is considering participating in the alliance of the USA, Great Britain and France in the future, but only if Assad troops were to use chemical weapons against their own population again. In April 2018, the three powers flew air attacks against selected targets of the regime after the Syrian army attacked the city of Duma, near the capital Damascus, with chemical weapons.

At the time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had ruled out Germany’s participation in “military actions.”

But now a radical change is being discussed in the ministry.

It began with a request from the US side to the Chancellor’s Office. At a subsequent meeting of high-level experts at the end of the week before last week, various options were discussed in the ministry. The meeting was attended by high-ranking representatives on both sides. For the Germans, von der Leyen’s ministerial director, for the Americans, the new military attaché, a colonel.

The two sides discussed several options relating to a possible military alliance against Assad. They included reconnaissance flights and damage analysis before and after a possible attack and participation in possible combat missions in which German aircrafts would drop bombs for the first time since the Balkan War.

Should Assad verifiably use chemical weapons against its own people again, armed Bundeswehr Tornados could fly attacks on military infrastructure — barracks, air bases, command posts, ammunition and weapon depots, factories, and research centers, for example. In doing so, Germany would risk a direct confrontation with Syria’s allied Russia for the first time.

Though the plans were developed in the ministry, the final decision will fall on the chancellor.

In the event of immediate intervention, the German Parliament would only be consulted after the fact because of time constraints.

Germany considers the situation extremely delicate. The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office, in a joint statement in response to a request from BILD, said, “The situation in Syria gives cause for grave concern. Of course, we are in close contact with our American ally and European partners during these times.”

The statement continued: “At all levels, we are constantly exchanging views on the current situation, possible further crisis scenarios and joint options for action. The aim is for the parties to the conflict to avoid an escalation of the situation, which is already terrible for the people affected. This applies in particular to the use of banned chemical weapons, which the Assad regime has already used in the past.”

Over the weekend, Russian and Syrian fighter jets again flew massive air strikes against the province of Idlib in Western Syria.

The rebel stronghold, the last of its kind, is a highly coveted target for Assad. The region is used by an estimated 100,000 partly Islamist rebels as a retreat, but three million civilians, including one million children, also live there.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-alliance-usa-uk-france-syria-2018-9

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Israel warns of retaliation if Russian-backed S-300 in Syria fire at Israel

I24 News — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 00:20:22 +0000

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman at a local government conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday February 14 2018.

Ariel Harmoni/Ministry of Defense

‘Russian systems are in Syria, they are not acting against us, we have an open line & dialogue’ Liberman said

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Tuesday that Israel would retaliate to any attack by a Russian-backed S-300 missile defense system, as Russia warned that any strike on its newly deployed advanced system in Syria would result in “catastrophic consequences.”

“What matters to us is that the arms protection that the Russians are transferring to Syria will not work against us,” Liberman said in an interview with Ynet.

“There must be one clear thing – if someone shoots at our planes, we will destroy them,” he added.

On Monday, according to Kommersant newspaper, Russia revealed its intentions to send the S-300 system to Syria “very soon” and at no cost to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. A defense analyst, cited by the newspaper, said that the move was likely Moscow’s “response” to a US-led attack in Syria last week, which targeted a number of chemical research facilities.

Lavrov said last week that after the joint US-Britain-France operation Russia no longer felt bound by “moral duty” to a previous agreement with Western nations not supply Damascus with the S-300 system.

“A few years ago at the request of our partners, we decided not to supply S-300’s to Syria,” Lavrov said in an interview with the BBC. “Now that this outrageous act of aggression was undertaken by the US, France and UK, we might think how to make sure that the Syrian state is protected.”

A Russian S-300 PMU2 Favorit surface-to-air missile system in Alabino, outside Moscow, last year.

AFP

On April 14, the US, UK and France carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Assad’s regime forces in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks in Douma that President Donald Trump branded the “crimes of a monster.”

Days earlier on April 9, another air raid attributed to Israel targeted the Iranian-operated T-4 (Tayfur) base close to Syria’s central Homs province killing 14 people including reportedly 7 Iranian personnel.

The Israeli strike was reportedly coordinated with the US but not with Russia, despite the two countries having established a military hotline intended to avoid conflicts of interest and clashes in Syria operations.

“The Russian systems are in Syria and they are not acting against us, we have an open line and dialogue,” Liberman told Ynet, although he added that communication was not always very simple. “For several years now, we have been coordinating and succeeding in preventing friction with the Russians,” he added.

“We are not interfering in Syrian internal affairs,” Liberman confirmed, referring to Israel’s formal policy of non-intervention in the Syrian Civil War.

He added, however that Israel will target “those acting against us” and when “Syrian systems acted against us, we destroyed them.”

Satellite images of Iranian-operated base in Syria, April. 17 2018

Israel declined to comment on Russian and Syrian accusations that it was behind the April 9 strike, but media reports noted that the airbase was the same one targeted by Israel in February 10 after it shot down an Iranian explosives-laden drone breaching its air space.

Liberman, was likely referring to events that followed on February 10 when Israel’ carried out “large-scale” raids on Syrian air defense systems and Iranian targets after its F-16 was shot down by a Syrian anti-aircraft fire.

Israel repeatedly warns that it will not allow its arch-foe Iran to entrench itself militarily in the region where it reportedly has special forces and drones, nor will it allow the passage of weapons to the Iranian-proxy Hezbollah operating in southern Lebanon and Syria. It’s policy of nonintervention applies to all cases excluding incidents it deems linked to Iran.

Back in 2016 the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that it had deployed a sophisticated anti-missile system to its naval facility in the Syrian city of Tartus, after reports began circulating in international media. However, this was only limited to Russian military bases.

Delivering the S-300 system to the Assad regime would thus mark a major change in Syria’s defense capabilities, since the system tracks air crafts and ballistic missiles over a range of 300 kilometers. The delivery of the more advanced anti-aircraft defense system would also make Israeli jets far more vulnerable in any future operations in Syria.

Source: https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/173081-180424-liberman-warns-of-retaliation-if-russian-backed-s-300-fires-against-israel

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Trump speaks after cruise missile launch

CBS News — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 03:36:42 +0000

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Trump Orders Strikes on Syria Over Suspected Chemical Weapons Attack

Helene Cooper, Michael D. Shear and Ben Hubbard — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 03:05:55 +0000

WASHINGTON — The United States and European allies launched strikes on Friday against Syrian research, storage and military targets as President Trump sought to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people.

Britain and France joined the United States in the strikes in a coordinated operation that was intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called persistent violations of international law. Mr. Trump characterized it as the beginning of a sustained effort to force Mr. Assad to stop using banned weapons.

“These are not the actions of a man,” Mr. Trump said of last weekend’s attack in a televised address from the White House Diplomatic Room. “They are crimes of a monster instead.”

While he has talked as recently as last week about pulling American troops out of Syria, he vowed to remain committed to the goal of preventing further attacks with deadly poisons. “We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” Mr. Trump said.

[Read the full text of President Trump’s address »]

The strikes, carried with ship-based cruise missiles and manned aircraft, targeted three facilities associated with Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, including a scientific research facility around Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility around Homs alleged to be used for sarin gas and a nearby command post, the Pentagon said.

The Syrian Observatory said the Syrian Army’s 4th Division and Republican Guard was among the targets.

Residents of Damascus, the capital, woke to the sounds of multiple explosions shaking the city before the dawn call to prayer. The city and the hills are surrounded by military facilities, and it appeared that these were among the first targets.

Missile fire over Damascus early Saturday. Hassan Ammar/Associated Press

Syrian state television said government air defense systems were responding to “the American aggression” and aired video of missiles being fired into a dark night sky. It was not clear if they hit anything. It reported that 13 missiles had been shot down by Syrian air defenses near Al-Kiswa, a town south of Damascus.

The targets were chosen to minimize the risk of accidentally hitting Russian troops stationed in Syria, according to Gen. James F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday night that the strike was completed and was designed as a one-night operation. “Right now this is a one-time shot and I believe it has sent a very strong message to dissuade him to deter him from doing it again,” he said.

Mr. Trump called on Syria’s patrons in Russia and Iran to force Mr. Assad to halt the use of poison gas in the seven-year-old civil war that has wracked his country.

“To Iran and to Russia I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?” he said. “The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by supporting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.”

The strikes risked pulling the United States deeper into the complex, multisided war in Syria from which Mr. Trump only last week said he wanted to withdraw. They also raised the possibility of confrontation with Russia and Iran, both of which have military forces in Syria to support Mr. Assad.

In choosing to strike, it appeared that Mr. Trump’s desire to punish Mr. Assad for what he called a “barbaric act” — and make good on his tweets promising action this week — outweighed his desire to limit the American military involvement in the conflict, at least in the short term.

The strikes marked the second time that Mr. Trump has attacked Syria to punish the government after it was accused of using chemical weapons. The White House had sought to craft a response that would be more robust than the attack in April 2017, when the United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base that was back in use a day later.

While France and Britain joined the United States in retaliating for the suspected chemical attack in the town of Douma outside Damascus last Saturday, Germany refused to take part, even though Chancellor Angela Merkel called the use of chemical weapons “unacceptable.”

Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain said Syria had left the allies no choice. “This persistent pattern of behavior must be stopped — not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons,” she said.

But she also emphasized the limits of the operation’s goals, reflecting the reluctance in London as well as Washington to become too immersed in the fratricidal war in Syria.

“This is not about intervening in a civil war,” she said. “It is not about regime change. It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.”

British defense officials said four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s participated in the strike, launching Storm Shadow missiles at a military facility about 15 miles west of Homs where they said Syria was believed to keep chemical weapon precursors stockpiled in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Early reaction to the strikes from Capitol Hill appeared to break down along party lines, with Republicans expressing support for the president and Democrats questioning whether Mr. Trump has a well-thought-out strategy for what happens after the military action is over.

“President Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes against the Syrian government without Congress’s approval is illegal and — absent a broader strategy — it’s reckless,” said Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, who has long argued that presidents should request permission from Congress before taking military action.

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said that “one night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy.”

Victims of a suspected chemical attack in Douma, Syria, on Sunday. Residents said they heard objects falling from the sky, followed by a strange smell that witnesses said resembled chlorine. Emad Aldin/EPA, via Shutterstock

Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House Republican majority whip, wrote in a statement: “President Trump is right to assert that the Assad regime’s evil acts cannot go unanswered.”

The missiles struck Syria shortly after 4 a.m. local time on Saturday. A fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was to begin investigating the incident on Saturday in Douma, which had been held by rebels before the suspected attack. The mission’s job was only to determine whether chemical weapons had been used, not who had used them.

Medical and rescue groups have reported that the Syrian military dropped bombs that released chemical substances during an offensive to take the town. A New York Times review of videos of the attack’s aftermath, and interviews with residents and medical workers, suggested that Syrian government helicopters dropped canisters giving off some sort of chemical compound that suffocated at least 43 people.

On Friday, American officials said they had intelligence implicating the Syrian government. “We have a very high confidence that Syria was responsible,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary. She said Russia was “part of the problem” for failing to prevent the use of such weapons.

At the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the world body, accused the Syrian government of using banned chemical arms at least 50 times since the country’s civil war began in 2011. State Department officials said the United States was still trying to identify the chemical used on April 7.

President Emmanuel Macron of France on Thursday cited proof that the Syrian government had launched chlorine gas attacks. The same day, the British Cabinet authorized Prime Minister Theresa May to join the United States and France in planning strikes against Syria.

Leaders in Syria, Iran and Russia denied that government forces had used chemical weapons, and accused rescue workers and the rebels who had controlled Douma of fabricating the videos to win international sympathy.

On Friday, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said images of victims of the purported attack had been staged with “Britain’s direct involvement.” He provided no evidence.

Karen Pierce, Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations, called those allegations “bizarre” and “a blatant lie.”

Mr. Mattis had sought to slow down the march to military action as allies compiled evidence of Mr. Assad’s role that would assure the world the strikes were warranted. Mr. Mattis also raised concerns that a concerted bombing campaign could escalate into a wider conflict between Russia, Iran and the West.

Before the strikes, the United States had mostly stopped aiding Syria’s rebels, like those who were in Douma, who want to topple Mr. Assad’s government. The Pentagon’s most recent efforts in Syria have focused on the fight against Islamic State militants in the country’s east, where it has partnered with a Kurdish-led militia to battle the jihadists. It is the roughly 2,000 American troops there that Mr. Trump has said he wants to bring home.

In his televised address on Friday night, Mr. Trump sought to repeat his desire to disentangle the United States from the Middle East at some point. “It’s a troubled place,” he said. “We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.”

Russian forces and Iranian-backed militias also are deployed around Syria to help fight the rebellion — including the Islamic State and other extremist groups — that has surged against Mr. Assad since the conflict started more than seven years ago.

Last year’s American attack on Syria came after a chemical attack on the village of Khan Sheikhoun killed scores of people. Mr. Trump ordered a cruise missile strike against the Al Shayrat airfield in central Syria, where the attack had originated. The base was damaged but Syrian warplanes were again taking off from there a day later.

Still, the response set Mr. Trump apart from President Barack Obama, who declined to respond with military force after a chemical weapons attack in August 2013 killed hundreds of people near Damascus, even though Mr. Obama had earlier declared the use of such weapons a “red line.”

Mr. Obama ultimately backed off a military strike and reached an agreement with Russia to remove Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. That agreement was said to have been carried out, although a series of reported chemical attacks since have raised doubts about its effectiveness.

Both American presidents have sought to keep United States involvement in Syria focused on the battle against the Islamic State, and not on toppling Mr. Assad or protecting civilians from violence.

The question now for Mr. Trump is whether his intervention against Mr. Assad will make it harder to keep the United States from slipping deeper into the Syrian war.

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In Call to Netanyahu, Putin Urges Israel Not to Take Action in Syria

Haaretz and Reuters — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 02:48:41 +0000

Netanyahu told Putin: Israel will not permit Iran to set up military presence in Syria ■ Israel is on high alert for any Iranian retaliation after direct threat from Iran ■ Trump warns Syria of possible attack ■ Russia to Trump: We don’t do Twitter diplomacy.
Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday, and the Russian leader urged Israel not to take action in Syria and to threaten its security. Israeli officials confirmed the call took place and said that Netanyahu told Putin that Israel will not permit Iran to set up a military presence in Syria.
Emil Salman

The news of the telephone call between Netanyahu and Putin appeared as Netanyahu took the stage in Israel’s main Holocaust memorial event and issued a threat to Iran not to “test Israel’s resolve.” The Russians announced the call in statement on the website of the Kremlin, which specified that Putin insisted it is “important” to maintain Syria’s sovereignty.

Israel is on high alert for any Iranian retaliation after Tehran’s direct threat Tuesday, as well as any possible U.S. strike against Syria’s Assad regime in retaliation to the chemical attack at Douma.

Netanyahu lashed out at Iran during his Holocaust memorial speech, saying it was still intent on destroying Israel. Netanyahu also ripped into the landmark nuclear accord reached between Teheran and world powers and said: “I have a message for the leaders of Iran: Don’t test Israel’s resolve.”

Netanyahu also took the opportunity to condemn the Syrian regime and the recent chemical attack in Syria, saying that “murderous evil that is not stood up against spreads rapidly.”

President Donald Trump appears to be closer to taking action in Syria after Saturday’s deadly chemical attack, for which he vowed “animal Assad” would “pay a heavy price.”

Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning, “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”

Trump followed that tweet with an assessment of U.S.-Russia relations, writing, “Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?”

The Kremlin took a jab at Trump in response, saying it did not engage in “Twitter diplomacy”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying that care should be taken not to aggravate the situation in Syria.

“We do not participate in Twitter diplomacy,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Interfax. “We support serious approaches. We continue to believe that it is important not to take steps that could harm an already fragile situation.”

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded to Trump’s tweet, saying that “smart missiles should fly toward terrorists, not a legal government,” adding that it could be a U.S. attempt to destroy evidence of the alleged chemical attack on the ground.

As Trump ramped up his threats, the Syrian military has repositioned some air assets to avoid the fallout from potential missile strikes, U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

The officials declined further comment and it was not clear whether the Syrian moves would impact U.S. military planning for potential action against Syria over a suspected poison gas attack.

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/in-call-to-netanyahu-putin-urges-israel-not-to-take-action-in-syria-1.5992415

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US deploying Truman aircraft carrier strike group to Middle East, Europe – Navy

RT — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 23:39:09 +0000

The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman performs a full power run during sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean © US Navy / Reuters

The US will deploy the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier for a mission to the Middle East and Europe on Wednesday, according to the US Navy.

The aircraft carrier will set sail with seven attack ships and will carry 6,500 sailors. It will travel alongside the German frigate FGS Hessen during the first part of its journey.

The USS Harry S. Truman will replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group, which recently completed a four-month deployment to the Middle East.

The guided-missile destroyer the USS ‘Donald Cook’ has also left Cyprus and is moving into the eastern Mediterranean, according to earlier reports. The Arleigh Burke-class warship carries 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles on board.

The military maneuvers come as the White House has threatened military action against Syria for an alleged chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma. US President Donald Trump has said he is meeting with advisers and deciding on a response to the incident.

“We have a lot of options militarily, and we’ll be letting you know pretty soon,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

The Russian military, which investigated the site of the alleged chemical attack, said, however, that “no traces” of chemical weapons could be found.

Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/423744-us-aircraft-truman-syria/

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Russia PLEADS with US to ‘refrain’ from MILITARY action in Syria in hope to avoid WW3

Matt Drake — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 09:45:43 +0000

RUSSIAN UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has pleaded with the United States to “refrain” from any military action it might be preparing against Syria over a the alleged chemical weapons attack.

GETTY

His comments came after the council failed to approve a third draft resolution.

Mr Nebenzia told US Ambassador Nikki Haley: “The threats you are proffering that you’re stating vis-a-vis Syria should make us seriously worried, all of us, because we could find ourselves on the threshold of some very sad and serious events.

“I would once again ask you, once again beseech you, to refrain from the plans that you’re currently developing for Syria.”His comments came after the council failed to approve a third draft resolution on chemical weapons attacks in Syria.Former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev has urged Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump to stage direct negotiations and warned an incidental clash could lead to “open warfare”.He said: “I am very alarmed.

“The situation hasn’t been this bad in a long time, and I am very disappointed in how world leaders are behaving themselves. We see evidence of an inability to use diplomatic mechanisms. International politics has turned into exchanges of accusations, sanctions, and even military strikes.”Fox News’ Senior National Security Analyst, Walid Phares, has warned Russia will respond if the US hits back at Syria, but Washington should not get to a “point of direct confrontation”.Mr Phares told Fox News: “The Russians are today stronger in Syria than they were a year ago and certainly six years ago.”So they are trying to say to us and our partners that there will be a response maybe directly by the Russians or as they do usually, task the Iranians to do it.”

GETTY

World War 3: Russia vetoed a proposal to set up an investigation into chemical weapons.

Russia vetoed a proposal to set up an investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria.

The US-drafted UN resolution would have established a new body to determine whether Syria was responsible for an alleged chemical attack in Douma which killed 70 people.

It is the 12th time Russia has used its veto power at the council to block action targeting Syria.

A draft resolution required nine votes to be adopted in the 15-member council and no veto from the five permanent members, which are the UK, China, France, Russia and the US.

US ambassador Nikki Haley said the United States “went the extra mile” to try and get Russian support.

GETTY

World War 3: Tensions have been high since an alleged chemical attack.

But Mr Nebenzia accused the US of wanting the resolution to fail to “justify the use of force against Syria”.Medical sources say dozens of people were killed on Saturday during the suspected chemical attack on Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region.It has not been possible to independently verify the reports.Both Syria and Russia deny the chemical attack took place.

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Donald Trump tells Russia missiles fired at Syria ‘will be coming’

Deutsche Welle — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 00:30:18 +0000

US President Donald Trump threatened to fire missiles at Syria following threats from Moscow to counter any attack. Earlier Russian officials said they would shoot down any US missiles.

US President Donald Trump threatened conflict with nuclear-armed Russia on Wednesday, as Washington and Moscow engaged in military brinksmanship over a suspected chemical weapons attack outside Damascus.

“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!,” Trump tweeted.

The United States, Britain and France have threatened to take military action against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons in Douma, the last rebel enclave in eastern Ghouta outside Damascus. A US-led attack on Syria could inadvertently hit Russian or Iranian troops stationed throughout the country.

Russia threatens retaliation

Earlier Wednesday, Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon warned that any attack on Syria would be met with a military response.

“If there is a strike by the Americans then … the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired,” said Alexander Zasypkin, adding that the two sides should avoid such a situation and negotiate.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to Trump’s threats that the US should target “terrorists, rather than the legitimate government” in Syria.

“Smart rockets should be aimed at terrorists, rather than the legitimate government, which has for several years been fighting international terrorism on its territory,” she said in a Facebook post.

Russia has multiple military assets in Syria, including its S-400 anti-missile system.

In a sign of what response may come, Syrian air defenses shot down five of eight suspected Israeli missiles fired at a military base on Monday. The suspected Israeli attack was unrelated to Douma.

Syria lambasts ‘reckless’ US threat

The Syrian government condemned Trump’s statement and reiterated its accusation that the US sponsors terrorism.

“We are not surprised by this reckless escalation from a regime like the one in the United States, which has and continues to sponsor terrorism in Syria,” said the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

Washington’s threats, it added, “show [it] lacks not only principles and values but also wisdom and logic and that in itself endangers international peace and security.”

The ministry also said the US’s accusation against the Syrian government for being responsible for Saturday’s chemical weapons attack was “a flimsy and unsubstantiated excuse to target Syria.”

WHO says Douma victims’ ‘symptoms consistent’ with chemicals

Russia has urged the United States to show restraint and said there was no evidence the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad used a banned chemical agent in Douma.

Moscow and Damascus have blamed rebels in Douma of staging an attack to draw an international response. Controlled by the Army of Islam, Douma is the last rebel-held enclave in eastern Ghouta after the regime backed by Russia and Iran have retaken more than 90 percent of the Damascus suburb since launching an offensive on February 20.

After the weekend attack, Army of Islam fighters and their families agreed to leave Douma to a Turkish-controlled zone in the north of the country.

An estimated 500 people show signs of exposure to toxic chemicals after attack in Douma outside the Syrian capital over the weekend, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

“In particular, there were signs of severe irritation of mucous membranes, respiratory failure and disruption to central nervous systems of those exposed,” WHO said in a statement, citing reports from its medical sources. “More than 70 people sheltering in basements have reportedly died, with 43 of those deaths related to symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals.”

Analysts say the attack in Douma appears to bear the signs of a chlorine attack.

Assad has been blamed for previous chemical attacks, including by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for a sarin-like attack last April on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in northwestern Syria.

The attack in Khan Sheikhoun prompted the United States to launch cruise missile strikes against an airbase from where the sarin attack was suspected to have been launched from.

Stalled at UN

On the diplomatic front, the US and Russia on Tuesday blocked each other’s UN Security Council resolutions calling for investigations into the alleged chemical weapons attack.

The OPCW plans to send a team to Douma to determine if a chemical weapon was used.

However, the chemical weapons watchdog does not have authority to assign blame and a full investigation can take months.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/donald-trump-tells-russia-missiles-fired-at-syria-will-be-coming/a-43340472

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Trump Weighs More Robust Military Strike Against Syria

Peter Baker, Helene Cooper and Thomas Gibbons-Neff — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 08:50:54 +0000

President Trump receiving a briefing on Monday from military leaders at the White House after a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of Syrians. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump and his advisers on Tuesday weighed a more robust retaliatory strike against Syria than last year’s missile attack, reasoning that only an escalation of force would look credible and possibly serve as a deterrent against further use of chemical weapons on Syrian civilians.

A pair of Navy warships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea were capable of launching the same sort of missile barrage that Mr. Trump ordered against a Syrian air base a year ago in response to a chemical attack then that killed more than 80 civilians.

But White House and national security officials worried that an operation of the same scale, as punishment for another suspected and deadly attack that killed dozens over the weekend, would not be effective at curbing the Syrian military’s war effort.

Administration officials said they expected any new strike to be more expansive than last year’s, but the question was how much more. Possible options included hitting more than a single target and extending strikes beyond a single day.

But even so, Mr. Trump remained reluctant to deepen American involvement over a longer term.

Mr. Trump and his team enlisted support for action against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. American officials expressed confidence that they would have the backing of France, which has been vocal about the need for a strong response, as well as Britain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all of which called for Syria to be held accountable for the suspected chemical attack. It remained unclear, however, whether any of the allies would participate.

Mr. Trump canceled a trip to Peru and Colombia that was scheduled to start Friday to oversee the response to the Syria attack, but as of early evening, had made no comment about Syria on Twitter or in his public appearances on Tuesday. Instead, he left it to a guest, the visiting emir of Qatar, to express determination to stop atrocities in Syria.

“We see the suffering of the Syrian people,” Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office. “And me and the president, we see eye to eye that this matter has to stop immediately. We cannot tolerate with a war criminal, we cannot tolerate with someone who killed more than half a million of his own people.”

Mr. Trump spent part of the day huddled with John F. Kelly, his chief of staff, John R. Bolton, his new national security adviser, and other officials. But his spokeswoman declined to discuss the deliberations.

“As we’ve said, all options are on the table,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, “but I’m not going to get ahead of anything the president may or may not do in response to what’s taken place in Syria.”

Heavily backed by Russian air support and Iranian ground forces, Syria is in a different league than adversaries in other places where the United States is at war. Unlike the Islamic State in various parts of the Middle East, the Taliban in Afghanistan or the Shabab in Somalia, the Syrian government has extensive air defense and missile systems capable of shooting down foreign planes.

Sending bombers and fighter jets, with American or French pilots, to strike Syrian airfields or other facilities is considered risky because it could deepen the conflict if a pilot was shot down. That is why the Pentagon is looking at the same sort of retaliation used last year when two Navy destroyers unleashed a fusillade of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Al Shayrat airfield that was believed to have been used to launch chemical attacks.

But less than 24 hours after that strike, Syrian warplanes were again taking off from the damaged airfield, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. Beyond Al Shayrat base, Syria still had numerous others from which it could launch flights. While Mr. Trump’s advisers argued last year that the strike affected Mr. Assad’s calculations, in the end its limited nature ultimately did not thwart the Syrian government’s ability to launch chemical attacks.

“There’s a tension between the desire to do something bigger than last time and the president’s clear desire not to stay engaged in sustained operations,” said Michèle A. Flournoy, an under secretary of defense under President Barack Obama. “Conceivably, they could design a larger one-off strike or a series of smaller strikes.”

“But at the end of the day, it’s sustained pressure on Assad that’s going to change his calculation about whether to use chemical weapons,” Ms. Flournoy said.

David F. Gordon, policy planning director at the State Department under President George W. Bush, said Mr. Trump was almost certainly looking to punish Mr. Assad more severely while limiting American engagement.

“What they’re probably searching for is: What can we destroy that weakens this guy?” Mr. Gordon said. “He has to do more than he did last time, and I think he does want to disrupt their capabilities. But I think it’s basically still the one shot — it may be in two waves or something, but I don’t think there’s an ongoing response to this.”

Already, there were indications that Mr. Assad was moving key aircraft to a Russian base near Latakia, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea, and taking pains to secure important weapons systems.

The Pentagon does not have an aircraft carrier in the area at the moment, which focuses attention on the U.S.S. Donald Cook or the U.S.S. Porter, two Navy destroyers already in the Mediterranean. The Donald Cook departed Larnaca, Cyprus, on Monday after completing a scheduled port visit, Navy officials said.

The Donald Cook is one of four Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers that generally serve Europe and are part of a NATO rotation, officials said. The United States can use the Donald Cook or the Porter to launch multiple Tomahawk cruise missiles at sites in Syria similar to last year’s operation.

Since last year’s strikes, the United States Central Command has been updating lists of possible military and government targets in Syria, including aircraft hangars, ammunition depots and command headquarters. Defense officials said one possibility was to render certain Syrian airfields incapable of being used in the future to launch chemical attacks.

Last year’s strike destroyed a number of aircraft and their hangars, the Pentagon said at the time, but did not hinder the base’s ability to launch aircraft for long. The American missiles used in the attack, BGM-109 Tomahawks, have a range of around 1,000 miles and carry a warhead that weighs half a ton.

The Donald Cook and the Porter are likely loaded with roughly two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles each. The U.S.S. New York, an amphibious landing ship and part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is also nearby. The New York can launch transport helicopters and landing craft loaded with Marines, but sending in ground forces is highly unlikely, officials said.

In coming days, the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is scheduled to head to the region. While part of a regularly scheduled deployment, the Truman will deploy to the Mediterranean with a complement of strike and reconnaissance aircraft and surface warships sailing alongside.

Whether allied forces would participate remained unclear. President Emmanuel Macron of France said Tuesday that the allies were still discussing a plan and would announce a decision “in the coming days.”

“We do not wish for any escalation in the region,” said Mr. Macron, who was hosting Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. “But we simply wish that international law, and in particular international humanitarian law, be respected.”

Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, said that those behind the reported chemical attack in Syria must be “held accountable,” although he did not say whether Saudi Arabia would join any response. “We are discussing with our allies the steps to respond,” Mr. Jubeir told reporters in Paris.

Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, who spoke by telephone with Mr. Trump on Tuesday, also stressed the responsibility of Mr. Assad’s government for the attack “if confirmed.” In a statement summarizing the leaders’ call, the British government said, “They agreed that the international community needed to respond to uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons.”

In Washington, most lawmakers remained either supportive of military action or noncommittal, but some liberal Democrats objected. Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus issued a statement calling on the administration to “redouble its efforts to engage our allies and enforce international prohibitions on chemical weapons diplomatically” rather than use force again.

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said Mr. Trump needed permission from Congress before action.

“He’s a president, not a king, and Congress needs to quit giving him a blank check to wage war against anyone, anywhere,” Mr. Kaine said. “If he strikes Syria without our approval, what will stop him from bombing North Korea or Iran?”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/us/politics/trump-military-strike-syria.html

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Syria strikes spotlight Israel’s nightmare: an entrenched Iran

Paul Goldman and F. Brinley Bruton — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 01:11:40 +0000

Israel has struck inside Syria more than 100 times since 2012.

News Analysis

Russia blamed Israel for the pre-dawn strike in Homs province. Two U.S. officials later confirmed to NBC News that Israel fired the missiles after informing Washington. Israel did not comment on the strikes, which a London-based monitoring group says killed 14 people, including Iranians.

Although Israel rarely provides details or takes responsibility for such attacks, its military acknowledges that it has struck inside Syria more than 100 times since 2012. Most targets have been suspected weapons’ convoys destined for Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been engaged in battles alongside Syrian government forces.

Iran is a sponsor of Hezbollah and also backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a bloody 34-day war in 2006. More than 1,000 Lebanese — mostly civilians — were killed; 158 Israelis, 119 of them soldiers, also died. Many Israeli experts are convinced that the country’s next war will be against Hezbollah, which is part of Lebanon’s coalition government.

Assad is thought to be close to crushing the seven-year rebellion in his country thanks to Russia, as well as to Iran and Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump appears determined to get out of Syria, having argued with his military advisers only last week that he prefers to bring U.S. troops home in months, not years.

Yossi Mekelberg, head of international relations at London’s Regent’s University, says that the Israeli government fears “the Iranians are getting too close.”

Trump’s isolationist impulses also concern Israel profoundly.

“I think that the worry in Israel as in many other places … is Trump’s unpredictability,” Mekelberg said.

If the U.S. is not deeply involved in the Middle East, “Israel will find itself more and more feeling the need to act in Syria” to thwart the threat from Iran, according to Mekelberg. “Israel really does not want to act in Syria.”

Underscoring the threat from the north, a senior cleric in Iran last week claimed that Hezbollah has weapons that could destroy the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv. Referring to the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said Friday that the Lebanese group’s rockets had turned both cities into “ghost towns.”

And now Hezbollah was much more powerful, Khatami said.

“If you want Haifa and Tel Aviv to be razed to the ground, you can try your chance once again,” the firebrand cleric warned Israel.

Giora Eiland, the former head of the Israeli National Security Council, blamed decisions made during President Barack Obama’s time in the White House for the situation unfolding in Syria.

“The biggest American mistake was not made in the past year, but it was made in the beginning of the uprising in Syria back in 2011,” he said.

At that time there were only two parties in Syria, Eiland said: Assad’s beleaguered government and a pro-democracy movement.

“Assad was quite lonely” and Western intervention could have made a big difference to those trying to oust him, he added.

Any advantage Syria’s rebels might have had was lost after Russia’s September 2015 decision to support Assad militarily, Eiland said.

On Sunday, Trump condemned what he described as a “mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria,” laying the blame at the feet of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Assad and Iran.

The Israeli missile strikes on Monday also followed a spike in cross-border firing earlier this year. On Feb. 10, the Israeli military shot down an Iranian drone launched from Syria into Israeli airspace.

In response, Israel launched a “large-scale attack” on at least a dozen Iranian targets in Syria, marking an escalation in tensions along the country’s northern border. One of these targets was the same base hit early Monday.

Paul Goldman reported from Tel Aviv, and F. Brinley Bruton from London.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/syria-strikes-spotlight-israel-s-nightmare-iran-its-border-n863826

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The post Syria strikes spotlight Israel’s nightmare: an entrenched Iran first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.