British Prime Minister Theresa May called for an emergency meeting of the cabinet on Thursday, while the U.S. President remains undecided on the manner of retaliation.
Donald Trump still hasn’t decided how will the United States of America respond to chemical weapons attack conducted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Damascus. The entire western world is gearing up to go against Syrian President.
Chief of Pentagon, Jim Mattis and the rest of Trump’s national security team had a meeting on Wednesday. Before that President Trump gave out a warning to Russia via Twitter: “You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”
Head of the U.S. threatened to fire a barrage of missiles on Syria, but despite this, the U.S. is not sure in which way are they going to retaliate. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the spokeswoman for White House, told the gathered reporters on Wednesday, that the president is conducting conversations with U.S. allies.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018
When asked what military steps are they going to take she responded: “We’re maintaining that we have a number of options and all of those options are still on the table. Final decisions haven’t been made yet on that front.”
The officials of White House were clear that the decision will be made after consultations with closest allies – French President Emmanuel Macron, and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May. The U.K. Cabinet will meet on Thursday to decide which actions will be taken after Assad regime allegedly used chemical weapons against Syrian Rebels located in Douma. Despite Russian claims that Syrian president is not to be blamed for the attack, U.K. Officials doubt that he’s not responsible.
Talking to reporters Therese May said: “All the indications are that the Syrian regime was responsible. We will be working with our closest allies on how we can ensure that those who are responsible are held to account. The continued use of chemical weapons cannot go unchallenged.” This was yesterday, and same as the U.S., the U.K. still has to decide which steps are they going to take.
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?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018
Interestingly, despite the claims that conflict is imminent, the price of oil remains high. At the same time, Turkey’s currency weakened. Turkey is one of the country’s that has troops stationed in Syria.
This is the second time in one year span that the U.S. needs to take action in Syria. In April of 2017, they conducted swift air strikes that destroyed single Syrian base. This time around the U.S. needs to hit harder.
Assad’s political advisers claim that no chemical weapon was used. They are adamant that regardless of world’s reaction they will, together with their allies Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah prevail as winners: “They will not win in anything they do. We will be the winners.”
In order to avoid breaking of international law, the U.S. will have to strike together with their allies. It is expected that joint force of U.S, France, U.K., and Saudi Arabia would help “to build a case for the humanitarian mandate.”
Donald Trump was clear in one of his Twitter addresses to Russia: “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.’ ”
Chief of Staff at Pentagon together with CIA Director Mike Pompeo stated that the U.S. is “ready to provide military options if appropriate.” Air strikes could possibly damage one of Russia’s assets in Syria, and if this happens even by accident, it could create a more profound conflict between America and Russia.
Ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Norbert Roettgen said about the situation: “There must be a consistent Syria policy, that is the key thing. There is no real U.S. policy on Syria. Assad and Russia have been given a free hand militarily.”
The high tensions prompted Syrian government to clear airports and military positions in expectations of U.S. air strike. One of the Syrian officials from the Foreign Ministry said: “The Americans are sponsoring the lies of “terrorists” as a pretext to attack Syria.”
European air traffic agency, Eurocontrol, issued a warning to all air companies not to use the airspace above Syria due to the possibility of an air strike.
Talking about the matter Elena Suponina, a Mideast analyst at the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies said: “The risk of military conflict between Russia and the U.S. in Syria is very high. If Trump takes this step and Russian citizens are harmed, the reaction will be very harsh.”
