U.S. Launches Missiles at Syrian Base After Chemical Weapons Attack
The United States launched dozens of cruise missiles Thursday night at a Syrian airfield in response to what it believes was the Syrian government's use of banned chemical weapons blamed for having killed at least 100 people on Tuesday, U.S. military officials told NBC News.
Two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea fired at least 50 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target — Ash Sha'irat in Homs province in western Syria, the officials said. That's the airfield from which the United States believes the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fired the banned weapons.
There was no immediate word on casualties. U.S. officials told NBC News that people were not targeted and that aircraft and infrastructure at the site, including the runway, were hit.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, have bluntly blamed Syria for the chemical weapons attack, whose victims included at least 25 children.
Tillerson told reporters on Thursday that "there is no doubt in our minds" that the Syrian regime was responsible for the attack. And in a combative speech at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Haley warned: "When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action."
NBC News reported Thursday that Defense Secretary James Mattis briefed President Donald Trump on U.S. military options, which included carrying out targeted strikes against those responsible for Tuesday's attack.
There was no immediate reaction from Russia, which Tillerson and Haley have accused of turning a blind eye to Syria's transgressions.
"Russia cannot escape responsibility for this," Haley said at the United Nations. "They chose to close their eyes to the barbarity. They defied the conscience of the world."
Thursday, Tillerson urged Russia to "consider carefully their continued support of the Assad regime."
====================
He'd better be goddamned sure who launched those chems. Those Tomahawks are almost sure to kill Russian military personnel as well.
Two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea fired at least 50 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target — Ash Sha'irat in Homs province in western Syria, the officials said. That's the airfield from which the United States believes the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fired the banned weapons.
There was no immediate word on casualties. U.S. officials told NBC News that people were not targeted and that aircraft and infrastructure at the site, including the runway, were hit.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, have bluntly blamed Syria for the chemical weapons attack, whose victims included at least 25 children.
Tillerson told reporters on Thursday that "there is no doubt in our minds" that the Syrian regime was responsible for the attack. And in a combative speech at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Haley warned: "When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action."
NBC News reported Thursday that Defense Secretary James Mattis briefed President Donald Trump on U.S. military options, which included carrying out targeted strikes against those responsible for Tuesday's attack.
There was no immediate reaction from Russia, which Tillerson and Haley have accused of turning a blind eye to Syria's transgressions.
"Russia cannot escape responsibility for this," Haley said at the United Nations. "They chose to close their eyes to the barbarity. They defied the conscience of the world."
Thursday, Tillerson urged Russia to "consider carefully their continued support of the Assad regime."
====================
He'd better be goddamned sure who launched those chems. Those Tomahawks are almost sure to kill Russian military personnel as well.
16 comments:
Excellent.
I agree w/ Kid
Scary version? Syria violated the Chemicals Weapons Treaty - which bans the use of the same.
The world watched. Trump did not blink. If this was a test, he passed it. That is my take on the whole thing.
In the past it was the rebels the ones who used the chemical weapons, although Assad was blamed. Let's hope this is not the case now.
April 5 comment by Pasto- stated he was done w/ IBA--:-(
I see no posts from him since then--
Question: how did the video footage and the photos of the gassed Syrians get released so quickly to the Western media? The quality of the video footage looked better than the footage taken by a SmartPhone.
Help me out here.
I just finished the article on Scott Adams' blog - his read on the whole thing seem plausible.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/159264981001/the-syrian-gas-attack-persuasion
AOW,
Scott Adams asks the same question in his blogpost.
HOWEVER, WOODROW, Adams' post may be accurate in it's speculation that this "chemical attack" was some kind of setup designed to bait Trump. But Adams' article is exactly wrong in speculating that Trump would do nothing in response.
Rarely is Adams so wrong.
AOW,
Check out this comment from Scott Adams' blog:
Deplorable Me • 21 hours ago
You seem to forget that McCain just returned from the area recently. He has explicity been working with "rebels." This was a set up, plain and simple.
The comment is the most popular comment on the thread.
It looks like an awful lot of people aren't buying this.
IMO,
Something went WAY OFF THE RAILS IN THE PAST WEEK.
Excerpted from the NYT article The Grim Logic Behind Syria’s Chemical Weapons Attack:
So why would Mr. Assad risk it all, outraging the world by attacking civilians with what Turkey now says was the nerve agent sarin, killing scores of people, many of them children? Why would he inflict the deadliest chemical strike since the 2013 attacks outside Damascus? Those attacks came close to bringing American military retaliation then. And in a stunningly swift reversal, Tuesday’s attack drew a response from President Trump: dozens of cruise missiles launched at a Syrian air base.
[...]
Government forces have been herding defeated opponents from across the country into Idlib Province, where the chemical attack occurred. Starved and bombed out of their enclaves, they are bused under lopsided surrender deals to the province, where Qaeda-linked groups maintain a presence the Syrian military uses as an excuse to bomb without regard for the safety of civilians.
Dr. Monzer Khalil, Idlib Province’s health director, said such extreme tactics aimed to demonstrate the government’s impunity and to demoralize its foes.
[...]
In 2015, a mix of Qaeda-linked and other rebels, some supported by the United States and its allies, drove government forces from Idlib, the capital of Idlib Province. Dr. Khalil became the health director. The city then became a bombing target, and the Syrian government accused the Americans of backing the Qaeda-linked group, then called the Nusra Front.
[...]
Idlib’s population grew as rebels and civilians moved there from areas recaptured by Assad forces and allies....
More at the link. A bit of Obama blaming and some Trump blaming.
Did anybody else here Trump's post-bombing speech last night. He said "extremism of all types and kinds" -- not radical Islamic terrorism.
Error! He said "terrorism of all types and kinds."
Pasto,
I saw this at Scott Adams's site:
It is almost as if someone designed this “tragedy” to be camera-ready for President Trump’s consumption. It pushed every one of his buttons. Hard. And right when things in Syria were heading in a positive direction.
My concern last night when the news alerts began breaking.
The footage of dying and dead children is one helluva hot button. At this point, I believe that this heartbreaking footage was somehow contrived to advance a particular agenda.
A few thoughts . . .
If Deep State is going to cut President Trump's balls off over stopping the flow of refugees and immigrants into The USA, which WILL eventually catch up to us and destroy Lady Liberty, then he will go right to the foundation of the source of the flow, the source of the migration.
*********
As for the quality of the video:
Stephan Molyneaux reveals
On Chemical Weapons Attack International Media Turn to Former Doctor Accused of Kidnapping Journalists a "Dr. Shajul Islam"
********
Now also consider the damage incurred with the insane enabling of Iran through financial and political enrichments which the previous-occupant-of-the-oval-office provided to the nihilist ayatollahs of Iran in his waning months as president. The fierce determination of these ayatollahs to bring harm to the West does present an alarming threat to our current Commander in Chief, hence the suggestion that the latest kinetic action order was in this nation's interest.
NewsMax: Ex-CIA Director Woolsey: Strike Iran's Nukes in Syrian Response
Trump may see a foreign war as a means to shore up his record-breakingly low approval numbers and lasso back into the fold those Republicans whose donor base is heavily made up of companies that stand to profit from a war.
Trump tweeted to Obama a few years back against military action in Syria. This week he blamed Obama for inaction. He still won't accept refugees, so he really doesn't give a shit about the innocents being killed. His 'strike' as all for show; they were warned and the areas which were bombed were evacuated. Russia issues a vague condemnation. This is all to deflect from the fact that Trump and his administration are all a bunch of kleptocrats and traitors.
…
Post a Comment