US missile strikes hit Syrian government Shayrat Air Base near Homs in central Syria, where U.S. officials alleged, with no evidence, that the Syrian military planes that dropped the ‘chemical weapons had been deployed from.
21st Century Wire says…
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement this morning condemning last night’s US airstrikes on Syria as ‘an illegal act of aggression’ in a heated response to the military action.
Putin warned that the knee-jerk move by Donald Trump will result in grave damage to bilateral relations between Washington and Moscow – a relationship which is already in disrepair.
Last night the United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles striking a Syrian airbase near Homs – which the US claim as the airbase fro which a “chemical weapons attack” was launched earlier this week.
According Putin, and many foreign leaders, Trump’s sudden missile strikes on a Syrian air base is in sharp violation of international law, but also US law as well – as Trump ignored calls for getting Congressional approval, or at least an Authorization of Military Force (AMF).
Moscow also announced that it will now be pulling out of its ‘Deconfliction’ agreement with the US in Syria – a program originally designed to minimize the risk of in-flight incidents between U.S. and Russian aircraft operating over Syria.
“President Putin considers the American strikes against Syria an aggression against a sovereign government in violations of the norms of international law, and under a far-fetched pretext,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday. “This step by Washington is causing significant damage to Russian-American relations, which are already in a deplorable state.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also called for an immediate meeting of the United Nations Security Council after President Vladimir Putin declared the strike a violation of international law.
The move has opened up Trump to charges of violating the US Constitution and may be used as additional fodder by his political opposition at home.
President Trump and the UK have both blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for the alleged ‘chemical attack’ that struck the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib – an al Qaeda stronghold, supposedly killing at least 70 people, including women and children – according to al Qaeda linked NGO the White Helmets and ‘opposition’ media outlets embedded in the terrorist-held region of Idlib.
The US are claiming that sarin gas was used, but as yet there is no proof to suggest that this is even the case.
Planning for the attack on Syria is said to have begun on Wednesday by the Pentagon, and the Defense Department had numerous “off-the-shelf plans” from the Obama administration, including the very same cruise missile strikes on Syrian airfields.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official told Reuters, ‘It was a matter of dusting those off and adapting them for the current target set and timing.’
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