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What happened?
The seventh of April, about 4:00 in the morning local time, US forces launched a missile strike on Syrian airbase “Sirat”. From the Mediterranean sea near Crete, us destroyers “porter” and “Ross” was released 59 “Tomahawk”, the purpose of which became a military facility in the province of HOMS (approximately 160 km South of Damascus).
The same day Donald trump said that the strike was a response to a chemical attack in the province of Idlib, which, according to the Pentagon, was carried out by the Syrian air force, stationed at the “Sirat”. The American President said that “preventing and deterring the proliferation and use of deadly chemical weapons in the interests of national security of the United States.”
According to Russian sources, of the 59 cruise missiles to the airbase Shirt flew only 23. The exact number of victims is not yet established, “Izvestiya” reported ten victims of war. It is also known that as a result of the strike destroyed the warehouse, radar, school building and six MiG-23.
draw
Press Secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov said that Putin considers strikes of the U.S. armed forces against Syria “aggression under false pretenses” and a “violation of international law.” According to the President, the chemical weapons from the Syrian authorities not – it was destroyed under the supervision of a special organization authorized by the UN. Putin also sees the strikes on Syria by United States attempt to divert world attention from the numerous victims among the civilian population in Iraq. He believes that “this move brings us closer to the ultimate goal in the fight against international terrorism, but on the contrary creates a serious obstacle to the creation of the international coalition to counter it and effectively counter this evil world that the President of the United States Donald trump proclaimed as one of the main objectives even during his election campaign.”
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov compared the incident with the situation in Iraq in 2003, when “the United States and the United Kingdom together with its allies invaded Iraq without the consent of the security Council”.
The representative of the Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova announced the suspension of the Memorandum on the prevention of air incidents in Syria between Russia and the United States. After the signing of the Memorandum us and Russian military had a round the clock communication channel and to notify each other about planned operations. This helps to avoid collision of aircraft and ensure the security of the military on both sides.
What was the reason?
Early in the morning on the territory of Syria was used chemical weapons – presumably, chlorine or sarin. The attack was carried out from aircraft, eyewitnesses reported that it could be Syrian fighter-bombers su-22. According to human rights, from poisoning killed 72 people, including 20 children. Thus, the Ministry of defense of Syria, its involvement in the airstrike completely denies.
According to Donald trump, “none of the children of the Lord” shall not pass through the horror, through which Syrian civilians”. He called to “end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, and terrorism of all kinds and all types.”
Responsibility for the chemical attack in Idlib most of the countries put on the Damascus – this was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the President of the European Council Donald Tusk. French President Francois Hollande called the incident a war crime.
Reaction of the world community
Prime Minister Theresa may has called America’s actions “commensurate with impact” in response to Assad. Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande admitted the attack on the airbase justified, but called back to resolve the situation in Syria under the auspices of the UN. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the decision of Donald trump, saying that he “made clear that it will not tolerate the use and proliferation of chemical weapons.” Also, the number of countries that have approved the decision of the United States, were Japan, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Italy.
An emergency UN Security Council held on 7 April at the request of Bolivia, backed by Russia, showed a divergence of views on this issue. The representative of Bolivia has compared the current situation to 2003, when U.S. Secretary of state shown here, the vial of “anthrax” as proof of the presence in Iraq of chemical weapons that later turned out to be a fiction. The view that military operations of the Syrian problem cannot be solved, expressed by the representatives of Egypt, Uruguay, Senegal, China and Japan. Britain and France have accused Assad of using chemical weapons, and therefore considered the impact of “Tomahawks” was justified.
Deputy of Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vladimir Safronkov hit the United States with the criticism, Recalling that a few hours before the missile strike, the security Council tried to agree to conduct a qualified investigation of the events in Flybe to establish the true picture and of the perpetrators of the chemical attacks, but the US rejected this proposal.
The US representative to the UN, Nikki Haley said that “the United States has taken a very reasonable step, and we are ready for further action, but hopefully won’t need it”.
expert Opinion
the Dmitry Novikov, a specialist on Russian-American relations and U.S. foreign policy, believes that the current situation will negatively affect relations of Russia and America and collaboration space will rapidly shrink:
– Discrediting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, trump beats and across Russia, as the sponsor and patron of Assad and his actions. You can say that all hope about improving relations with America since the arrival of trump, now completely vanished. The administration of the tramp moves to the foreign mainstream, established under Obama – the opposition of Russia”.
the Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the faculty of world economy and international Affairs, expert on issues of Russian foreign policy, US foreign policy, Russian-American relations, relations between Russia and the European Union, especially for Hit.media:
– Critical strikes – a turning point in Russian-American relations. What Syria has seen both sides is the most promising direction of the cooperation, but now the Russian perception of the administration of the trump changes. The United States will be submitted to Russia a greater threat than Obama. These strikes have eliminated those positive features of American foreign policy, which stimulated Russia to improve relations with the United States. First and foremost, this positive factor was the failure of the new administration from the policies of regime change in Syria. Today, trump not only dealt a blow to Syria, but said that returns to our strong policy of overthrowing Assad.
Now the Russian-American relationship will teeter on the brink of direct war. Russia’s refusal of the Memorandum on the prevention of military clashes in Syria is already a step in this direction. Russia makes it clear that if the United States will continue to strike on Syrian territory, the Assad regime, Russia will just shoot down American planes and missiles.
I think that this will not happen, although to balance around that, we will. I think that in the end, the parties shall take any measures which would have prevented direct military confrontation. Moreover, the current Russian-American escalation against Syria will have effect also on other areas is likely to be an escalation of the Ukrainian crisis, where the United States is also noticeable a more assertive stance.
In my opinion, the next few months we will be in the most acute crisis in relations between Russia and the United States since the Cuban nuclear crisis in 1962.
