National
Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said Russia should be pushed to
answer whether it knew about the latest chemical gas attack in Syria
beforehand.
As
relations between the U.S. and Russia strained after the recent deadly
chemical gas attack in Syria, a Russian lawmaker said Moscow will not
fight Washington’s troops in Syria, Sputnik reported Monday. In
retaliation to the deadly attack, President Donald Trump ordered missile
strikes on a Syrian government-controlled air base Thursday — a move
that upset Russia.
Victor
Ozerov, the head of the Russian Federation Council's defense committee,
told Sputnik the Russian Aerospace Forces deployed in Syria are to
support President Bashar Assad regime’s anti-terrorism efforts and not
engage in military conflict with the U.S.
"Russia
is not going there to conduct armed activity with the US, our task
there is to support the Syrian armed forces in the fight against
terrorism," Ozerov told the Russian news agency, adding, "we have a mandate to fulfill this very task."
Ozerov
also maintained that the deployment of Russia’s Admiral
Grigorovich-class frigate to the Mediterranean Sea was not connected to
the U.S. missile strikes on the Syrian government’s Shayrat air base.
"You
cannot deploy such a ship in one day. This rotation is planned; the
Admiral Grigorovich escorted the Admiral Kuznetsov [aircraft carrier],
and is now back," Ozerov said. "Admiral Grigorovich is quite an
effective ship; we have already attacked militants from its deck. Thus,
this is not so much about the moral support for the Syrian armed forces
in the fight against terrorists, as it is about fire cover."
Last
week’s chemical gas attack in Syria killed nearly 100 people and
injured dozens. Following this, the U.S. launched 59 Tomahawk cruise
missiles targeting the Shayrat air base. While most U.S. allies backed
the move, Russia criticized the strikes. There also have
been allegations that Moscow may have played a role in the chemical gas
attack.
National
Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said Russia should be pushed to
answer whether it knew about the attack beforehand.
“I
think what we should do is ask Russia — how could it be, if you have
advisors at that airfield, that you didn't know that the Syrian air
force was preparing and executing a mass murder attack with chemical
weapons? I think we ought to ask them a question,” McMaster said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson said Russia should reconsider its support to
Assad. Moreover, Britain would request Western countries to impose new
sanctions on Russia, if Moscow does not end its support to the Syrian
president, according to the Sunday Times.
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1 comment:
To believe that Trump or the us cares about 80 dead people in Syria is hilarious...
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