Photograph from Facebook page of Bashar al-Assad – By Donna Westfall – March 13, 2018 –
With the combined operation of armed forces from France, the United Kingdom and the United States, Syria has been attacked.
Trump labels Syrian President Bashar al- Assad a monster and a dictator. Assad has been in charge of that country since the year 2000. His father ruled before him for the previous 30 years.
Syria is bordered by the Mediterranian Sea along with the countries of Israel and Lebanon on the west and southwest, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the South and Turkey to the north.
Last year Trump had 58 missles rain down on Syria after they used toxic chemicals on their own people. Those US missiles took out 20% of the Syrian air force.
Last Saturday, April 7th, claims that 500 people, mostly women and children were injured and needed medical attention with 40 deaths occuring due to chemical weapons used against them. Reports passed to the World Health Organization by partner agencies indicate that those people had the signs and symptoms associated with toxic chemicals. Symptoms included frothing at the mouth, suffocation, dilated and constricted pupils, corneal burns, central cyanosis – a blue tinge to the skin – and a chlorine-like odour, were consistent with exposure to an organophosphorus compound. Sarin gas is such a chemical.
UN aid agencies cannot get into the area. The Syrian government has denied responsibility. The United Nations put out estimates of a quarter of a million people killed due to anti-regime uprisings resulting in a civil war that started in 2011. Millions of people have fled their country.
Why does the Trump administration believe the Syrian government are responsible for the chemical weapon attack?
Here’s what happened in 2013… 1,700 people were killed. How? Chemical weapons.
Just keep in mind that chemical warfare was banned after World War 1. That’s 100 years ago! Also keep this in mind. In 2013, more than 1,700 men, women and children died after the Syrian government launched attacks using nerve agents, which nearly prompted a US intervention in the war.
Here enters Russia. They failed to keep their promise (Russia’s chemical disarmament agreement from 2013). The Russians and US arrived at an agreement to rid Syria of their chemical weapons. Syria was not to develop, produce, retain or use chemical weapons or toxic chemicals as weapons.
Everything started out well enough, and then Syria apparently didn’t keep their end of the bargain, for a change. They declared their chemical weapons were removed from their country in 2014 and they were destroyed in 2016. They possessed large stockpiles of sulfur mustard, sarin, and VX nerve gas. Skepticism is high that ever took place.
Back to the present.
Witnesses have said six loud explosions have occured in Damascus, the capitol of Syria along with strikes in the Barzah district which is the location of a major Syrian scientific research center.
Trump had this to say to Iran and Russia. “What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?”
Speaking from the White House, Trump said the main reason for tonight’s action is “to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons.”
Trump is not stopping with a military attack. He went on to state, “We are prepared to sustain this response (military, economic and diplomatic) until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.”
On the other hand, Russia is threatening the US with trade sanctions.
According to USA Today, “Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on Friday accused Russia of lies and covering up for Assad, which she said had used chemical weapons at least 50 times in the past seven years of warfare.”
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