Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Moscow Warns U.S.: Don’t Strike Syrian Air Base Again

Moscow Warns U.S.: Don’t Strike Syrian Air Base Again

MOSCOW - Last week’s U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack must not be repeated, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday, Russian state media reported.
President Trump ordered the strike, citing a chemical attack that killed at least 86 people that the he blamed on the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is a close Russian ally and has depended on Russian military support in a six-year-old civil war.
Tillerson met with Lavrov in Moscow to urge Russia to end its support for Assad. Tillerson is the first Trump administration official to visit Russia, and the meeting likely was tense.
On Tuesday, top U.S. officials rebuked Russia for either being complicit in the April 4 chemical attack or incompetence for failing to ensure that Assad destroyed all of his chemical weapons in 2013, as Russia promised it would  guarantee.
Defense Secretary James Mattis said military intelligence confirmed that the Syrians dropped a lethal nerve gas on a rebel-held town and rejected Russian claims that the chemical was released when Syrian aircraft bombed a rebel lab. (AP)