WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump told members of Congress he is “considering military action in Syria,” after a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 83 people.
Trump’s assertion, reported by CNN, came a day after he accused the Syrian regime of gassing its people and pledged that “these heinous actions cannot be tolerated.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, Trump said that what happened in Syria is “a disgrace to humanity” and “what Assad did is terrible.”
Asked if Assad should go, Trump said: “He’s there, and I guess he’s running things so something should happen.” He said the attack “shouldn’t have happened, and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”
While no decision has been made yet, a defense analyst told Arab News that military options could include “US cruise missile strikes against major Syrian Air Force installations.”
Following the chemical weapons attack in Idlib on Monday, CNN reported Thursday that Trump is considering military action in Syria but “had not firmly decided to go ahead with it.”
He is “discussing possible actions with Defense Secretary James Mattis,” it was reported.
Mattis’ role appears to be central as the Pentagon has submitted to the US administration “long-standing options to strike Syria’s chemical weapons capability,” according to CNN.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Thursday that “a day will come when international justice will give its verdict on (Syrian President) Bashar Assad who is massacring his people.”
Speaking to news channel CNEWS, he added: “These crimes must not go unpunished. In any case, there are investigations, United Nations commissions... there will be a war crimes trial.
“It’s difficult because up to now every time we have presented a resolution, there has been a veto by Russia and sometimes by China ... but we must cooperate because we need to stop this massacre.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was a scandal that the UN Security Council did not pass a resolution condemning the suspected chemical attack in Syria this week.
“It was a barbaric attack that must be cleared up. The use of chemical weapons is a war crime,” Merkel told a news conference in eastern Germany, adding there were some indications it was carried out by Assad’s forces.
“It is a scandal that no UN Security Council resolution materialized and those who opposed it must consider what responsibility they bear,” she said.
Tobias Schneider, a defense analyst based in Berlin and a close watcher of the Syrian conflict, told Arab News that “as of now, there appears to be no coherent position coming from the White House.”
He added: “If Trump is indeed willing to push aside institutional skepticism about intervention against Assad, he will be looking for military options that are both sufficiently symbolic and punitive.”
Such options could include, according to Schneider, “cruise missile strikes against major Syrian Air Force installations,” but could “obviously risk ... accidentally hitting Russian troops.”
Schneider also cautioned that “after the dust settles, Assad could repair the damaged runways and claim for himself to have survived an onslaught by the mightiest military in the world, hence taunting the US to either lose face or escalate further — a dangerous prospect with a President Trump.”
Also on Thursday, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said Russia’s support for Assad is not unconditional, but that the country demands a full investigation of the suspected chemical attack on an opposition-held province in Syria before the UN takes any action.
Dmitry Peskov told The Associated Press that “unconditional support is not possible in this current world,” but added that “it is not correct to say that Moscow can convince Mr. Assad to do whatever is wanted in Moscow. This is totally wrong.”
France warned Russia it would face a “terrible responsibility in front of history” if it decides to veto a draft UN resolution demanding an investigation of the suspected chemical attack in Syria.
Negotiations were continuing on the proposed measure presented by France, Britain and the US, but chances for a compromise with Russia appeared dim.
tions in good faith to adopt a resolution,” French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters in New York. “But make no mistake about it: We need a robust text,” he said.
Asked about the threat of a Russian veto of the measure, Delattre indicated that Russia would be harshly judged by history. “That would be a terrible responsibility in front of history,” he said.
British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said he cannot understand how anyone on the UN Security Council could fail to sign up to a resolution condemning the attack.
Johnson said on Thursday during a visit to Sarajevo that he “cannot understand how anybody on the UN Security Council could fail to sign up to a motion condemning the actions of the (Assad) regime that is almost certainly responsible for that crime.”
Johnson described the attack in Idlib as “abominable and contemptible” and said “those who did it deserve international condemnation.”
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he hopes Trump will take military action in Syria after this week’s attack.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Erdogan as reacting to news reports Thursday that Trump was mulling military action after the assault in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun.
It quoted Erdogan as saying Turkey would be prepared to do “whatever falls on us” to support possible military action. Turkey is a leading supporter of the opposition fighting to overthrow Assad.
Earlier, Turkish officials said that autopsies of the victims from the assault, which happened 60 miles (95 kilometers) from the Turkish border, show they were subjected to chemical weapons.
Meanwhile, two US military officials told NBC News that Syrian fixed-wing aircraft dropped suspected chemical weapons on civilians in Idlib earlier this week in a deadly attack which killed at least 83 people — including 25 children — and injured at least 350 others.
The US military saw the aircraft on a radar and watched them drop the bombs, the officials said. The radar soon picked up the flashes and booms in the opposition-held area of Syria.
The bombs hit a hospital run by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front damaging operating rooms and injuring medical professionals, the officials said.
Soon after, civilians on the ground began responding in a way that is consistent with exposure to a nerve agent documented in horrific images of people writhing in pain, coughing and young children gasping for air.
One official said he believes there was a combination of two agents and while he does not believe one was chlorine, he would not say what they were.
“What Assad did is terrible,” says Trump as he mulls Syrian military intervention
“What Assad did is terrible,” says Trump as he mulls Syrian military intervention
Russian forces kill Daesh-linked hostage takers at detention center
- “The criminals were eliminated,” Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement, which said a “special operation” had taken place to free the hostages
MOSCOW: Russian special forces freed two prison guards and shot dead six inmates linked to the Daesh militant group who had taken them hostage at a detention center in the southern city of Rostov on Sunday, Russian media said.
State media said that some of the men had been convicted of terrorism offenses and were accused of affiliation with the Daesh militant group, which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall in March.
The six hostage takers, one of whom wore a headband with the flag used by the Daesh that bears an Arabic inscription, knocked out window bars and climbed down several floors by rope before taking the guards hostage with a knife and fire axe.
In video published by the 112 Telegram channel, one was shown brandishing a knife beside one of the bound guards in Rostov-on-Don. In negotiations with the authorities, they demanded free passage out of the prison.
But Russian special forces decided to storm the prison. Intense automatic gunfire could be heard in footage published on Russian Telegram channels. Video published by the 112 Telegram channel showed the six dead men in pools of blood.
“The criminals were eliminated,” Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement, which said a “special operation” had taken place to free the hostages.
“The employees who were being held hostage were released. They are uninjured,” the prison service said.
Ambulances were seen entering the complex.
Daesh, a Sunni Muslim militant group, was defeated in Iraq and Syria by a combination of US-led forces, Kurdish fighters, and Russian, Iranian, Syrian soldiers. It splintered into different regional groups that have claimed a number of deadly attacks across the world.
Daesh, named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the March attack on the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow in which 145 people died.
According to Russian media, the hostage takers were from Russia’s southern republic of Ingushetia and three of them had been detained in 2022 for planning an attack on a court in another Russian republic, Karachay-Cherkessia.
Israel warns of escalation from cross-border fire from Hezbollah
- Hezbollah says it will not halt fire unless Israel stops its military offensive on Gaza
JERUSALEM: Intensified cross-border fire from Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement into Israel could trigger serious escalation, the Israeli military said on Sunday.
“Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement in English.
Iran-backed Hezbollah last week launched the largest volleys of rockets and drones yet in the eight months it has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military, in parallel with the Gaza war.
After the relatively heavy exchanges over the past week, Sunday saw a marked drop in Hezbollah fire, while the Israeli military said that it had carried out several air strikes against the group in southern Lebanon.
The US and France are working on a negotiated settlement to the hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border. Hezbollah says it will not halt fire unless Israel stops its military offensive on Gaza.
“Israel will take the necessary measures to protect its civilians — until security along our border with Lebanon is restored,” Hagari said.
‘No joy’: Gazans mark somber Eid in shadow of war
- Many Palestinians forced to spend holiday without their loved ones
- I hope the world will put pressure to end the war on us because we are truly dying, and our children are broken
GAZA STRIP: In tents in the stifling heat and bombed-out mosques, Gazans on Sunday marked the start of the Eid Al-Adha holiday, devoid of the usual cheer as the Israel-Hamas war raged on.
“There is no joy. We have been robbed of it,” said Malakiya Salman, a 57-year-old displaced woman now living in a tent in Khan Younis City in the southern Gaza Strip.
Gazans, like Muslims the world over, would usually slaughter sheep for the holiday — whose Arabic name means “feast of the sacrifice” — and share the meat with the needy.
Parents would also give their children new clothes and money for the celebration.
But this year, after more than eight months of a devastating Israeli campaign that has flattened much of Gaza, displaced most of the besieged territory’s 2.4 million people, and sparked repeated warnings of famine, the Eid is a day of misery for many.
“I hope the world will put pressure to end the war on us because we are truly dying, and our children are broken,” said Salman.
Her family was displaced from the far-southern city of Rafah, a recent focus of the fighting which began after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
The military on Sunday morning announced a “tactical pause of military activity” around a Rafah-area route to facilitate the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gazans.
AFP correspondents said there were no reports of strikes or shelling since dawn, though the Israeli military stressed there was “no cessation of hostilities in the southern Gaza Strip.”
The brief respite in fighting allowed worshippers a rare moment of calm on holiday.
Many gathered for the Eid Al-Adha morning prayer in the courtyard of Gaza City’s historic Omari Mosque, which was heavily damaged in Israeli bombardment, placing down their frayed prayer mats next to mounds of rubble.
The sound of prayers traveled down some of the city’s destroyed and abandoned streets.
“Since this morning, we’ve felt a sudden calm with no gunfire or bombings ... It’s strange,” said 30-year-old Haitham Al-Ghura from Gaza City.
He hoped the pause meant a permanent ceasefire was near, though truce mediation efforts have stalled for months.
In several areas of the war-battered territory, especially in Gaza City, young boys were seen manning roadside shops selling perfumes, lotions, and other items against the backdrop of piles of rubble from destroyed buildings and homes.
Many vendors used umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching sun as they sold household items on Gaza City’s main market street. But there were few buyers.
Food and other goods can reach four or five times their usual price, but those who cling to the holiday traditions can still afford them.
In Khan Younis, displaced man Majdi Abdul Raouf spent 4,500 shekels ($1,200) — a small fortune for most Gazans — on a sheep to sacrifice.
“I was determined to buy it despite the high prices, to perform these rituals and bring some joy and happiness to the children in the displacement camp,” said the 60-year-old, who fled his home in Rafah.
“There is sadness, severe pain, and suffering, but I insisted on having a different kind of day.”
The deadliest-ever Gaza war began after Hamas’s unprecedented Oct. 7 attack.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,337 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry in the territory.
For many, a halt in fighting can never bring back what has been lost.
“We’ve lost many people, there’s a lot of destruction,” said Umm Mohammed Al-Katri from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
“This Eid is completely different,” she said, with many Gazans forced to spend the holiday without their loved ones killed or displaced during the war.
Grieving families on Sunday flocked to cemeteries and other makeshift burial sites, where wooden planks marked the graves.
“I feel comfort here,” said Khalil Diab Essbiah at the cemetery where his two children are buried.
Even with the constant buzzing of Israeli drones overhead, visitors at the cemetery “can feel relieved of the genocide we are in and the death and destruction,” he said.
Hanaa Abu Jazar, 11, also displaced from Rafah to the tent city in Khan Yunis, said: “We see the (Israeli) occupation killing children, women and the elderly.”
“How can we celebrate?” asked the girl.
Jordan conducts three airdrops in southern Gaza
- Aid packages containing food, clothing, and sweets were delivered to various locations in the southern Gaza
AMMAN: Jordan’s armed forces conducted three airdrops to the southern part of Gaza on Sunday, in collaboration with Egypt, to mark the first day of Eid Al-Adha, Jordan News Agency reported.
Aid packages containing food, clothing, and sweets were delivered to various locations in the southern Gaza Strip by two planes from the Royal Jordanian Air Force and an aircraft from Egypt.
Earlier on Saturday, a 45-truck humanitarian aid convoy arrived in Gaza, sent by the JAF and the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO).
In cooperation with its regional and international allies, the Jordanian armed forces have carried out 261 airdrops and delivered 1,970 trucks of aid since the beginning of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “a significant proportion of Gaza’s population is now facing catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions,” as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on the supply of food, water, medicine, and fuel to the Strip.
Kuwait Red Crescent distributes meat to Lebanese families, Syrian, Palestinian refugees
- Initiative follows last week's distribution of Eid Al-Adha packages by the KRCS
LONDON: The Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) has launched an initiative to distribute meat to around 1,500 Lebanese families, as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, in celebration of Eid Al-Adha, Kuwait News Agency reported on Sunday.
Youssef Boutros, relief coordinator of the Lebanese Red Cross (LRC), announced that the distribution process had begun on Sunday.
This initiative follows last week's distribution of Eid Al-Adha packages by the KRCS, which included clothes and other essentials for around 2,000 families, covering Lebanese families and Syrian and Palestinian refugees.
In addition to these efforts, the KRCS is continuing its humanitarian aid to 6,000 Lebanese families in southern Lebanon, who have been affected by military confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel since October.
This aid, which includes food and staple supplies, is being distributed with the assistance of the LRC.
