Russia is ultimately to blame for any use of chemical weapons in Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday amid reports of a suspected chemical attack this week near the capital, Damascus.
Russia’s UN ambassador said Wednesday the expert body that has determined responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria ‘is dead’ — but Moscow is ready to discuss ‘a new mechanism.’
Russia used its U.N. Security Council veto power on Thursday to stop a U.S.-drafted resolution that would have extended an investigation into allegations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own people earlier this year.
The United States is calling for a vote Thursday on a resolution that would extend the mandate of experts working to determine who was responsible for chemical attacks in Syria, which is likely to face Russian opposition.
Russia and the United States were on a collision course ahead of a UN Security Council vote Thursday on the fate of a UN-led probe to determine who is behind chemical attacks in Syria’s six-year war.
The White House admonished Russia on Wednesday after it vetoed a United Nations plan to continue an ongoing investigation that recently found Syria killed dozens of people with chemical weapons and implored the international body to renew the probe.
The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad is to blame for a chemical attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people last April, according to a report sent to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.
Russia vetoed Tuesday a US-drafted resolution that would have extended by a year an investigation of who is behind chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a vote Tuesday on a U.S.-sponsored resolution that would extend the work of inspectors seeking to determine who is responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria, and the big question is whether Russia will veto it.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Wednesday the United States is circulating a resolution that would extend by another year the work of inspectors seeking to determine who is behind chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
Israeli officials believe that Iran is winning its bid for dominance in the Middle East, and they are mobilizing to counter the regional realignment that threatens to follow. The focus of Israel’s military and diplomatic campaign is Syria. Israeli jets have struck Hezbollah and Syrian regime facilities and convoys dozens of times during Syria’s civil war, with the goal of preventing the transfer of weapons systems from Iran to Hezbollah. In an apparent broadening of the scope of this air campaign, on Sept. 7 Israeli jets struck a Syrian weapons facility near Masyaf responsible for the production of chemical weapons and the storing of surface-to-surface missiles.
An Israeli satellite imaging company released photographs on Sunday showing the effects of last week’s airstrike on a Syrian weapons base that was attributed to the Israeli Air Force.
In the wake of reports that Israel struck a chemical weapons facility in southern Syria, Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Herzl Halevi on Thursday warned that Israel was consistently working to combat its enemies ‘both near and far.’
A red line’s a red line. That was Israel’s message Wednesday, when it struck a major Syrian arms facility from the air.
Israel launched an aerial attack on Assad posts in Syria overnight, hit a scientific research center where chemical weapons are manufactured and killed two Syrian soldiers, Arab media reported Thursday morning.
Syrian reports said early Thursday that Israeli warplanes struck overnight a facility in northern Syria where the regime has allegedly been stockpiling chemical weapons.
Islamic State fighters launched a chemical attack against advancing Iraqi security forces in the besieged city of Mosul, injuring a number of local troops amid heavy fighting, the senior U.S. ground commander confirmed Wednesday.
President Trump vowed U.S. troops are “not going into Syria,” during an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo that is set to air Wednesday.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces carried out at least two chemical attacks in Syria in the past two years and the Islamic State also used mustard gas as a weapon, the United Nations reported Wednesday.
The Islamic State group is aggressively pursuing development of chemical weapons, setting up a branch dedicated to research and experiments with the help of scientists from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region, according to Iraqi and U.S. intelligence officials.