Washington: The United Nations warned world powers against letting the crisis over an alleged chemical attack against civilians in Syria from “spiraling out of control” after US President Donald Trump said “missiles will be coming.”
As tensions mounted over a face-off with Damascus-ally Russia, opponents of unilateral US action called an emergency closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council for Thursday.
Britain also scheduled an emergency cabinet meeting.
With punitive US military action seemingly imminent, Russia scrambled to deflect blame from Syria’s Bashar Al Assad.
Trump’s bellicose tweets came in response to a warning from Russia’s ambassador to Beirut, who took to a television network run by the armed group Hezbollah to declare that any US missiles would be shot down “as well as the sources they were fired from.”
If the US action follows the pattern of a previous punitive strike on Syria last year, it will begin with a salvo of cruise missiles fired from US warships in the Mediterranean, as Trump implied when he tweeted they would be “nice, new and ‘smart.’”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as well as CIA director Mike Pompeo met at the White House on Wednesday to discuss options, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
With the UN Security Council failing thus far to find a diplomatic solution, Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that time was running out.
“Today, I called the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the Security Council to reiterate my deep concern about the risks of the current impasse and stressed the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control,” he said, referring to the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.
Moscow and Washington have so far vetoed each other’s motions to set up an international investigation into chemical weapons use.
The Russian army has continued to deny Al Assad launched a chemical attack on the last rebel-held pocket of the enclave in the Damascus suburbs, instead accusing the White Helmets civil defense organisation of staging the supposed gas assault.
Trump’s spokeswoman dismissed this idea, and pointedly refused to say that concern about the risks of a direct confrontation with Russia would hold the US military back.
“The intelligence provided certainly paints a different picture,” Sanders said.
“The president holds Syria and Russia responsible for this chemical weapons attack.”
But while the Russian president’s lieutenants continued to up the ante with threats and allegations, Vladimir Putin himself adopted a more statesmanlike tone, in remarks to new ambassadors presenting their credentials at the Kremlin.
“The situation in the world is becoming more and more chaotic but all the same we hope that common sense will finally prevail and international relations will take a constructive path,” he said.
Trump’s tweets were more belligerent. He told Russia: “You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!” He declared that US relations with Russia have plunged to a historic low.
But Trump notably also said there was “no reason for this,” reiterated his hope for talks with Putin to halt a new arms race, and blamed his domestic political opponents for poisoning ties.
Al Assad’s Damascus regime, which has long accused Washington of supporting its armed opponents in the country’s bloody seven-year-old civil war, hit back at Trump’s “reckless escalation.”
Trump and other Western leaders have vowed a quick and forceful response to Saturday’s alleged gas attack, which rescue workers say killed more than 40 people.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has called an emergency cabinet meeting for Thursday, while French President Emmanuel Macron is to decide on a response in the coming days, having insisted he does “not want an escalation” and that any response would focus on Syria’s chemical capabilities, not on allies of the regime.
As it looked to head off the threat of Western strikes, Syria said it had invited the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which has blamed the regime for previous attacks, to visit the site.
The OPCW said it would “shortly” deploy a fact-finding team to Douma for an investigation, but US officials said they were working from their own information and would not necessarily hold back.
Damascus agreed to hand over its chemical arsenal in 2013, narrowly avoiding American and French air strikes in retaliation for a suspected sarin attack.
That incident, which killed hundreds, also took place in Eastern Ghouta.
France to decide on strike within days
France says it will decide in the coming days whether to launch a military strike over a suspected chemical attack in Syria.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday that President Emmanuel Macron would decide whether to launch an attack over the “non-respect of the international convention against chemical weapons,” which is a “red line” for France.
Speaking to reporters in Romania, Le Drian says: “We are very firm...as the president of the Republic said.... this situation can’t be tolerated.”
Asked about consulting the US, which has also threatened military action, Le Drian said “France is autonomous in taking its decisions.”
What's the latest
May summons Cabinet to discuss
Syria military strike British Prime Minister Theresa May summoned her Cabinet back from vacation yesterday to discuss military action against Syria over an alleged chemical weapons attack.
May has indicated she wants Britain to join in any US-led strikes in response to the attack in Douma. Britain’s Ministry of Defence refused to comment on reports that Royal Navy submarines armed with cruise missiles have been dispatched into range of Syria. British opposition lawmakers are calling for Parliament to be given a vote before any military action.
May isn’t legally required to do that, though it is conventional for lawmakers to be given the chance to vote. Parliament is in recess until Monday, though it could be called back early for an emergency debate.
Macron says France has proof Syrian
regime behind gas attacks President Emmanuel Macron says France has proof that the Syrian government launched chlorine gas attacks. Macron said yesterday that France would not tolerate “regimes that think everything is permitted.” He did not say whether France is planning military action.
Macron said he has been talking regularly this week with US President Donald Trump about the most effective response but insisted that “France will not allow an escalation or something that could damage the stability” of the region. On Tuesday, Macron said any French action would target Syria’s chemical weapons abilities.
Earlier French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France would decide “within days” if it planned to attack
Kuwait Airways halts Beirut flights
Kuwait’s national carrier halted flights to Beirut yesterday citing security concerns, after an air safety watchdog warned of potential military strikes on Syria in the coming days.
Kuwait Airways said that it took the decision “on the basis of credible security warnings received from the Cypriot authorities regarding the danger of flying over Lebanon’s airspace”.
The changes would stand “until further notice”, the airline said on Twitter.
The move came after the European Aviation Safety Agency alerted airlines on Tuesday of the possible launch of “airto-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours”, urging them to take precautionary measures.
Other international carriers including Air France and Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines have also modified their flight plans.
US stocks rise
US stocks rose and Treasuries retreated as investors speculated that Middle East tensions won’t erupt into a destabilising conflict.
All major benchmarks were were higher following hints from Trump that military action in Syria may not be imminent, while Russia toned down its own war rhetoric.
Threats of a strike weighed on investor sentiment for riskier assets, with MSCI’s benchmark emerging stocks index down 0.15 per cent. Russian stocks fell 0.3 per cent and Turkish stocks 0.5 per cent.
Jakob Christensen, head of emerging markets research at Danske Bank, said the door was open for further weakening of the rouble given the geopolitical situation.
— Agencies
