White House: Assad will pay ‘heavy price’ for potential chemical attack

The White House accused the Syrian government of preparing a chemical weapons attack against rebels in that country's brutal civil war and warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he will "pay a heavy price" if such an attack is carried out. Handout photo courtesy SANA via EPA

June 27 (UPI) — The White House accused the Syrian government of preparing a chemical weapons attack against rebels in that country’s brutal civil war and warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he will “pay a heavy price” if such an attack is carried out.

“The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children. The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement.

“As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,” the statement continued. “If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, extended the warning to the Syrian government’s allies.

“Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people,” she tweeted.

New York Times White House correspondent Michael D. Shear tweeted that several military officials were “caught off guard” by the statement.

Trump previously accused the Syrian government of launching a chemical weapons attack on April 4. That attack, in which the Syrian government denied involvement, killed more than 80 civilians, including many children.

Trump responded by firing 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian air force base believed to be the launching point for the plane that conducted the chemical attack.

“Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children … even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered. No child of God should ever suffer such horror,” Trump said at the time.

The U.S. military’s stated purpose in Syria is to defeat Islamic State, but has stepped up attacks on the Syrian government in recent months as it continues to support anti-government rebels.

The latest attack occurred on June 18, when an American fighter jet shot down a Syrian government warplane that had attacked rebels supported by the U.S.

1 COMMENT

  1. This is another lie. Assad is on the verge of defeating ISIS, why would he need to use weapons of mass destruction at this point? These WMDs are usually used when a regime is about to get defeated.

    In reality, the anti Assad coalition is coming up with this BS story to get revenge for the downing of several US drones by Russia in retaliation for the downing of a Syrian fighter.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3lpAuj-OggA

    We must ask, where is the evidence? Perhaps publicly displaying the evidence that Syria is getting ready for another chemical attack can be enough to deter their behavior, if it is really going on. Brian Ghilliotti

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here