The US warning that Syria may be preparing another chemical weapons attack was based on suspect activity at the launch site of the regime’s apparent chemical strike in April, the Pentagon said Tuesday. “We have seen activity at Shayrat airfield… that indicated preparations for possible use of chemical weapons,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff … Read more
US-led coalition air strikes killed nearly 60 people at a Syrian prison run by the Islamic State group, a monitor said Tuesday, as Washington insisted the jihadists remain its only target. The coalition has been hitting IS in Syria and Iraq since mid-2014 but has also been involved in recent confrontations with President Bashar al-Assad’s … Read more
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be preparing a chemical weapons attack that would result in the “mass murder” of civilians, the White House said Monday, warning the regime would pay a “heavy price” if it goes ahead. The White House said the preparations were similar to those undertaken by the Assad regime ahead of an … Read more
China’s top nuclear envoy arrived in Seoul Monday for talks on the North Korean threat, as the US sent a naval strike group to the region and signalled it may act to shut down Pyongyang’s weapons program. President Donald Trump, fresh from a missile strike on Syria that was widely interpreted as a warning to … Read more
The US Navy said Saturday it had sent a carrier-led strike group to the Korean peninsula in a show of force against North Korea’s “reckless” nuclear weapons programme. The move will raise tensions in the region and comes hard on the heels of a US missile strike on Syria that was widely interpreted as putting … Read more
A US Navy carrier strike group was moving toward the Korean Peninsula on Saturday as the United States boosts its defenses against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. “US Pacific Command ordered the Carl Vinson Strike Group north as a prudent measure to maintain readiness and presence in the Western Pacific,” said Commander Dave Benham, spokesman at … Read more
President Donald Trump notified Congress on Saturday of the US missile strikes on Syria days after the event, warning ominously of further actions “as necessary.” In a letter addressed to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate president pro tempore Orrin Hatch, Trump gave details on the missile strike on the Shayrat military airfield, launched in … Read more
North Korea has said the US missile strikes on Syria were an “intolerable act of aggression” that “proves a million times over” that strengthening its nuclear programme was the right choice, state media reported Saturday. The comments were Pyongyang’s first since US President Donald Trump ordered the strikes on an air base in the war-wracked … Read more
President Donald Trump on Thursday denounced Bashar al-Assad as responsible for an “egregious” crime, suggesting the United States could be poised to take action against the Syrian leader over this week’s apparent chemical attack. “What Assad did is terrible. What happened in Syria is truly one of the egregious crimes,” Trump said while travelling to … Read more
Autopsy results have revealed that chemical weapons were used in an attack which killed more than 80 people in Syria’s Idlib province, according to Turkey’s justice minister. Thirty-two victims of Tuesday’s attack were brought to Turkey where three subsequently died. “Autopsies were carried out on three of the bodies after they were brought from Idlib. … Read more
The White House says it is “confident” Bashar al-Assad’s government was behind an apparent chemical attack that killed at least 58 people in north-west Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that strikes on Khan Sheikhoun by Syrian government or Russian jets had caused many people to choke. Later, aircraft fired rockets at local … Read more