Updated at 5:02 p.m.
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Cabinet has “agreed on the need to take action” in response to the apparent use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, a spokesman in her office announced Thursday.
“Cabinet agreed on the need to take action to alleviate humanitarian distress and to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime,” a readout of the meeting explained. “Cabinet agreed the Prime Minister should continue to work with allies in the United States and France to coordinate an international response.”
The United Kingdom’s support could play a key role in the scope and nature of the western response to Assad; in 2013, the British Parliament’s refusal to endorse such a strike contributed to then-President Barack Obama’s hesitation to order a military enforcement of his red line against the use of chemical weapons. But the readout of the British meeting didn’t specify if May’s Cabinet favors military action in particular.
“Cabinet agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged,” the readout said.
May has been leading the charge for European leaders to take a more aggressive posture towards Russia, which has propped up the Assad regime militarily since 2015 after previously agreeing to oversee a deal to eliminate the regime’s chemical weapons stockpile. U.K.-Russian relations cratered in March, after May accused Russia of using a nerve agent to poison a former Russian intelligence officer who worked for the British as a double agent.
Russia has defended Assad and likewise denied responsibility for the assassination attempt, which took place on British soil. “Today we have grounds to come with accusations against official London of intentional misinformation, propaganda and manipulation of public opinion,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.
May’s Cabinet meeting coincided with the announcement that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international monitoring body, agreed with British assessments that the poison use to target former spy Sergey Skripal was of a variety developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
“This is based on testing in four independent, highly reputable laboratories around the world,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Thursday in response to the OPCW announcement. “All returned the same conclusive results. There can be no doubt what was used and there remains no alternative explanation about who was responsible — only Russia has the means, motive and record.”
The OPCW is also deploying a team of investigators to Douma, Syria, to investigate the latest reported use of chemical weapons.
“The Syrian authorities said they would open all gates for them,” Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters Thursday. “They are ready to accept them and provide any necessary assistance. We said we would together ensure their security while working there.”
But Russia vetoed an American-drafted resolution to establish a mechanism at the United Nations for investigating the attacks and identfying the perpetrators, a diplomatic stalemate that enhanced the likelihood of a western attack on Assad.
“Russia has crossed the line in the international order,” British Ambassador Karen Pierce, who represents the United Kingdom at the United Nations, said Tuesday. “Russia would rather cross the WMD line than risk sanction of its ally Syria.”
