US Preparing Strikes On Syria Over Renewed Chemical Weapons Accusation: Report

Via Al-Masdar News,

The U.S. could launch airstrikes in response to the alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian military in the Latakia Governorate town of Kabani, the Russian aviation publication Avia.Pro reported on Friday, echoing broader Russian media reports. 

“It can be expected that the U.S. will launch airstrikes on Syria in the very near future (probably within the next two weeks), using false accusations of using chemical weapons by Damascus,” the publication reported, citing a representative from Syrian intelligence.

According to Avia.Pro, the U.S. has intensified their flights along the Syrian border recently, which may indicate that Washington is working out plans to strike the Arab Republic.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the Syrian military on Thursday of using chemical weapons, specifically, chlorine gas, in an attack on the jihadist positions in the Latakia Governorate on May 17th. 

The accusation was first made by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, a jihadist group that controls most of the Idlib Governorate and parts of the Latakia Governorate.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States had concluded the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria had used chlorine as a chemical weapon in a May attack as part of its battle for Idlib. More here: https://t.co/NJYi7P2MCp pic.twitter.com/y8XhGtUsNp

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 27, 2019

“Today I am announcing that the United States has concluded that the Assad regime used chlorine as a chemical weapon on May 19,” Pompeo said.

“This is different in some sense because it was chlorine … but know that President Trump has been pretty vigorous in protecting the world from the use of chemical weapons,” Pompeo added.

It should be noted that the U.S. administration has not stated how they would respond to these reports.

In April 2018, the U.S. launched several missiles towards the Syrian military’s defenses after Damascus was accused of using chemical weapons in the East Ghouta town of Douma.