Trump orders strikes against Syria over chemical weapons attack

[ezzra]

It seems that there's a method to his madness after all...

[Jack Mountain]

Russia has to react otherwise it will become worse and worse. Wondering or destroying of some US destroyers were also in the deal they made to prevent that the US losing it filthy face ...

[BuaBS]

If this is only a limited attack on infrastructure , Russia won't do much .

If they hit Russians : let the war games begin.

Shall We Play a Game?

[lannarebirth]

9 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

What a nonsense, the right process is to wait for the investigation to finish (hasn't started yet), then when you have actual proof instead of opinions, you react.

What's that have to do with the question asked about why he announced attack ahead of time? Feel better you got that off your chest?

Edited April 14, 2018 by lannarebirth

[simoh1490]

The next question is, what will the retaliatory targets be, if indeed they are to be any?

[EVENKEEL]

It started. Missiles away.

[midas]

Statement from the Russian ambassador or to the USA

 

 

Quote

 

Embassy of Russia in the USA / Посольство России в США

27 นาที · 

Statement by the Ambassador of Russia to the USA Anatoly Antonov on the strikes on Syria

The worst apprehensions have come true. Our warnings have been left unheard.
A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.
All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.
Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.
The U.S. – the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons – has no moral right to blame other countries

 

 

[Jack Mountain]

3 minutes ago, midas said:

Statement from the Russian ambassador or to the USA

 

 

 

Pre-designed scenario. Doomsday machine? Dr. Strangelove all over again ...

[datcook]

I am still at a loss to know who appointed the USA as the policeman of the world. Let other nations look after their own problems. To escalate the conflict would only result in many thousands of deaths on all sides. 

[evadgib]

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-statement-on-syria-14-april-2018

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/raf-jets-strike-chemical-weapon-facility-in-syria

[serialK]

we have a US president that has gone insane

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics/trump-mattis-syria-policy/index.html

[Guest]

Quite limited strikes to chemical factories. This was more of show of unity by the USA, Britain and France against Russia, which has tried to divide and weaken the west. 

 

 

[HLover]

1 hour ago, hansnl said:

Maybe you should do some reading and them some thinking to maybe find out the mess in Syria has got something to do with Iran?

No thanks, I would rather view it as two super powers using a smaller country to use as a battlefield for their own selfish desires.

Hmm, sounds like Vietnam....

[HLover]

1 hour ago, TomTao said:

There is a prophecy in the bible that says that Damascus will be reduced to an uninhabitable ruin fit for jacksls and ostriches only, it could be about to be fulfilled.

Is that before or after the walking on water tale?

[zydeco]

Looks like the Russians and their over-hyped air defense system didn't stop much. Now, who will want to buy their junk? Same in every showdown between American and Russian/Chicom technology since the Korea, when their MIGs were effective. Russian war tech is trash. Now, all they can do is howl and threaten like Monty Python's black knight who wouldn't shut up until he had all his arms and legs whittled off. 

[BuaBS]

Well if the Russians don't retaliate military ,  I hope Putin announces to stop export of Titanium to US & UK , France and China to stops rare earth metals , vital to US war industry and aviation (Airbus & Boeing) .

[zydeco]

4 minutes ago, EnlightenedAtheist said:

are the Israelis, Saudis, the Yanks and the Uk leaders better?

Yes. At least three of the four are elected by the people. And even the Saudis have been modernizing domestically lately, which is more than can be said for Iran.

[midas]

38 minutes ago, evadgib said:

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-statement-on-syria-14-april-2018

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/raf-jets-strike-chemical-weapon-facility-in-syria

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/russias-heavy-bombers-return-to-iran-presumably-for-syria-related-operations/

[Hummin]

1 hour ago, TomTao said:

There is a prophecy in the bible that says that Damascus will be reduced to an uninhabitable ruin fit for jacksls and ostriches only, it could be about to be fulfilled.

Are you happy the prophecy will be fulfilled? Should be all christians wet dream come true I believe. 

Edited April 14, 2018 by Hummin

[rooster59]

Western attack struck Syrian research centre, other targets

 

Syria air defences strike back after air strikes by U.S., British and French forces in Damascus, Syria in this still image obtained from video dated early April 14, 2018. SYRIA TV via Reuters TV

 

DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Western attack on Syria hit a scientific research facility in Damascus and Syrian army depots in the Homs area, state media said, and a Reuters witness said the Syrian capital was rocked by explosions as smoke rose into the sky.

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a second research facility was also struck in Damascus, in addition to a third in the Homs area, and five military bases and depots used by elite army divisions in the Mezzeh area of Damascus.

 

A senior official in the regional alliance that supports President Bashar al-Assad said the attack by the United States, Britain and France would be viewed as contained if it was now over. "If it is finished, and there is no second round, it will be considered limited," the official told Reuters.

 

Syrian state TV said air defences were confronting the attack and had shot down 13 missiles in the Kiswah area south of Damascus. It said a pro-Damascus "anti-terror axis" was confronting the attack, language suggesting that Assad's ally Russia may be helping to fend off the assault.

 

State TV described the attack as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

 

Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said all the targeted locations were evacuated three days ago after the Russians told the government they had intelligence that bases including the research centres would be hit. He said there were so far no reports of civilian or military casualties.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-14

[evadgib]

15 minutes ago, midas said:

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/russias-heavy-bombers-return-to-iran-presumably-for-syria-related-operations/

Pop-ups render this inaccessible. 

Edited April 14, 2018 by evadgib

[Jonah Tenner]

I find it fascinating that every time the Syrian government gets the upper hand and appears to win the war, there is a "gas attack" which gives the West an excuse to intervene on the side of the so called rebels, ISIL and Al Queda.

Fascinating and totally unbelievable.

[rooster59]

Full Text: U.S. President Trump announces strikes on Syria

 

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to announce military strikes on Syria during a statement at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 13, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The following is the full text of U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks on Friday announcing military strikes targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capabilities after a poison gas attack that killed at least 60 people last week.

 

THE PRESIDENT:  My fellow Americans, a short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway. We thank them both.

Tonight, I want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. 

 

One year ago, Assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. The United States responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian Air Force.

 

Last Saturday, the Assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians -- this time, in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital of Damascus. This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime.

 

The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air.  These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead.

 

Following the horrors of World War I a century ago, civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare.

 

 Chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering, but because even small amounts can unleash widespread devastation.

 

The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons.  Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power -- military, economic, and diplomatic.  We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.

 

I also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.

 

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?

 

The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators. 

 

In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons.  Assad’s recent attack -- and today’s response -- are the direct result of Russia’s failure to keep that promise.

 

Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we’ll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran -- but maybe not. 

 

I will say this: The United States has a lot to offer, with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world.

 

In Syria, the United States -- with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS -- is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated.

 

The United States has also rebuilt our friendships across the Middle East.  We have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region, including contributing large amounts of money for the resources, equipment, and all of the anti-ISIS effort. Increased engagement from our friends, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, and others can ensure that Iran does not profit from the eradication of ISIS.

 

America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria under no circumstances.  As other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home. And great warriors they are.

 

Looking around our very troubled world, Americans have no illusions. We cannot purge the world of evil, or act everywhere there is tyranny.

 

No amount of American blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the Middle East. It’s a troubled place. We will try to make it better, but it is a troubled place. The United States will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people.

 

In the last century, we looked straight into the darkest places of the human soul.  We saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold. By the end of the World War I, more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons.  We never want to see that ghastly specter return.

 

So today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.

 

Tonight, I ask all Americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our allies as they carry out their missions.

 

We pray that God will bring comfort to those suffering in Syria.  We pray that God will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace.

 

And we pray that God will continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

 

Thank you, and goodnight.  Thank you.

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-14

[EnlightenedAtheist]

5 minutes ago, HLover said:

I think he meant the other countries...

The statement demanded a more precise antecedent. But, Russia and Syria seem to be happy with their respective leader. As to Iran, well, that's another story.

 

At least, whistleblowers/people who hold opposing views are not put in jail (or slammed with the threat of jail or stuck in an embassy/consulate/another country or killed). Hard to know which countries I am talking about here too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jack Mountain]

5 minutes ago, Jonah Tenner said:

I find it fascinating that every time the Syrian government gets the upper hand and appears to win the war, there is a "gas attack" which gives the West an excuse to intervene on the side of the so called rebels, ISIL and Al Queda.

Fascinating and totally unbelievable.

Like Usain Bolt makes a U-turn just before the finish ...

[rooster59]

Britain had no choice but to conduct missile strikes against Syria, PM May says

By Michael Holden

 

FILE PHOTO - Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May visits Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, April 10, 2018. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool via Reuters

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday she had authorised British forces to conduct precision air-launched cruise missile strikes on Syria to degrade its chemical weapons capability, saying there was no alternative to military action.

 

Four Royal Air Force Tornado jets using Storm Shadow missiles had taken part in the attack on a military facility near Homs where it was assessed Syria had stockpiled chemicals, Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

 

The strike, conducted with the United States and France, was "limited and targeted", designed to minimise any civilian casualties, May said. The MoD said the initial indications were that the precision weapons and meticulous target planning had "resulted in a successful attack".

 

"This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change," May said in a statement.

 

She said the strike was a response to significant evidence including intelligence showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government was responsible for attack using chemical weapons in Douma in Syria last Saturday that killed up to 75 people including children.

 

May added Britain and its allies had sought to use every diplomatic means to stop the use of chemical weapons, but had been repeatedly thwarted, citing a Russian veto of an independent investigation into the Douma attack at the UN Security Council this week.

 

"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime," she said.

 

The Western missile strikes demonstrate the volatile nature of the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011 as an anti-Assad uprising but is now a proxy conflict involving a number of world and regional powers and a myriad of insurgent groups.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until the government of Assad stopped its use of chemical weapons.

 

Russia, which intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad, has denied there was a chemical attack and has accused Britain of helping to stage the Douma incident to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

 

CHEMICAL WEAPONS TARGETS

 

Britain's defence ministry said "very careful scientific analysis" had been applied to maximise the destruction of stockpiled chemicals while minimising any risk of contamination to surrounding areas.

 

"The facility which was struck is located some distance from any known concentrations of civilian habitation, reducing yet further any such risk," the MoD said in a statement.

 

May said while the strike was targeted at Syria, it sent a message to anyone who used chemical weapons. Britain has accused Russia of being behind last month's nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, southern England, a charge Moscow has rejected.

 

"This is the first time as prime minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat – and it is not a decision I have taken lightly," she said.

 

"I have done so because I judge this action to be in Britain's national interest. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised – within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world."

 

Many politicians in Britain, including some in May's own Conservative Party, had called for parliament to be recalled from a break to give authority to any military strike.

 

May is not obliged to win parliament's approval before ordering military action, but a non-binding constitutional convention to do so has been established since a 2003 vote on joining the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

 

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had said Britain should press for an independent U.N.-led investigation into the suspected chemical attack in Douma rather than wait for instructions from Trump on how to proceed.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-14

 

[Hummin]

6 minutes ago, Jonah Tenner said:

I find it fascinating that every time the Syrian government gets the upper hand and appears to win the war, there is a "gas attack" which gives the West an excuse to intervene on the side of the so called rebels, ISIL and Al Queda.

Fascinating and totally unbelievable.

I also find it hard to believe it could be done by any other side, and not been discovered. I mean which country have mor intelligenza on ground than Zyria at this moment from how many fractions? 

[CGW]

6 minutes ago, Jonah Tenner said:

I find it fascinating that every time the Syrian government gets the upper hand and appears to win the war, there is a "gas attack" which gives the West an excuse to intervene on the side of the so called rebels, ISIL and Al Queda.

Fascinating and totally unbelievable.

You wouldn't believe anybody could be so stupid to do the same thing Twice, despite the reaction last time, maybe he thought it had been forgotten?

Or maybe he never did it as he is a little bit smarter than that? lucky we have the EVIDENCE???????????

Were not being lied to are we

[mercman24]

yes kill a few innocents as per usual, get the israel involved they will get rid of ASSAD, cut the head off the snake.

[BuriramSam]

Bad move. The US should just get out. Regional conflict, regional solution.

 

But that's the US government. Always some reason to go to war.