President Trump is prepared to order a second attack on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime over reports of chemical weapons and other attacks on civilians in an ongoing civil war, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned Monday.
“It is not the path we prefer, but it is a path we have demonstrated we will take, and we are prepared to take it again,” Haley said during a United Nations Security Council meeting.
Haley issued that warning while unveiling a new cease-fire resolution that would require a blanket end to hostilities in Syria for 30 days. A ceasefire resolution that passed 16 days ago has not stopped the fighting in a Damascus suburb, which Russia and the Assad regime defends as a necessary conflict against anti-regime terrorists.
“The Syrian government has every right to do away with the security threat to its citizens. Damascus’ suburb cannot continue to be a nest of terrorism,” Vasily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the UN, said during the meeting.
The previous ceasefire resolution contained an exception for counter-terrorism operations, to Haley’s dismay.
“Over the past two weeks, the Russian and Syrian regimes have been busy labeling every opposition group in eastern Ghouta a terrorist group,” she said. “There are terrorists in Syria. But the Russian and Syrian regimes label anyone as terrorists who resist their absolute control . . . The Syrian and Russian regimes insist that they are targeting terrorists, but their bombs and artillery continue to fall on hospitals and schools – and on innocent civilians.”
Those attacks have included three instances of the use of chlorine gas, she added. “We welcome all nations that will work together to finally provide relief for the Syrian people,” Haley said. “But we also warn any nation that is determined to impose its will through chemical attacks and inhuman suffering, most especially the outlaw Syrian regime: the United States remains prepared to act if we must.”
Haley’s speech seemed to equate the use of chlorine gas with sarin gas, the weapon that provoked Trump’s decision to strike Assad in April of 2017. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis offered a similar warning Sunday, though he stopped short of clarifying that point.
“So I don’t have evidence right now of it,” Mattis told reporters. “I just want to reiterate — it would be very unwise for them to use weaponized gas. And I think President Trump made that very clear early in his administration.”
