US Republican defense hawks urge Trump to strike Syria soon

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China said on Monday that it supports an investigation into a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma that has provoked global outrage. US President Donald Trump and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have vowed a strong response to the suspected poison gas attack, which left dozens dead
China said on Monday that it supports an investigation into a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma that has provoked global outrage. US President Donald Trump and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have vowed a strong response to the suspected poison gas attack, which left dozens dead

After President Donald Trump warned Russia in a tweet Wednesday that it should “get ready” for missile strikes against Syria, key lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned whether threats of war should be made via social media while some Republican defense hawks urged Trump to act soon.

The President signaled in a morning tweet that the US would fire missiles into Syria: “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”

GOP Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who chairs the influential Foreign Relations Committee, questioned the value of Trump’s tweet and warned the inflammatory rhetoric could escalate the crisis into a “geopolitical outbreak.”
Corker has called for “surgical strikes” against Syria to punish President Bashar al-Assad’s government for allegedly carrying out a chemical attack against Syrian civilians last week.

“The only thing I worry about is that it’s not going to happen,” he said about a possible military response. “Because so many things get announced and then they never happened. I’m actually more concerned on the other side and I think every day that goes by, we actually get ourselves more fully in position where it could create a geopolitical outbreak whereas if we had just done it, before the Russians and the Iranians, and the Syrians prepped for it, we’d been in much better shape.”

He continued: “Now we’re announcing what we’re going to do and unfortunately it puts us in a place where possibly it creates a greater conflict.”

Even as Trump appeared to announce a decision to launch strikes, White House officials said no final plans had been made.
Trump has consulted allies in Europe to arrange a coordinated effort, and was planning to meet with top military leaders on Wednesday afternoon.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, welcomed Trump’s consideration of “retaliatory action” even as he called the President’s tweet “unconventional.”

“Well, I am glad he is considering retaliatory action. Because we have seen that red lines that go unenforced just encourage further provocative action by Assad,” he told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday. “So it is unconventional, to be sure. Something I doubt any other president would have done. I don’t think it caused any harm because I know Assad and Russians are expecting something to happen.”

Asked how Trump should respond to the alleged Syrian chemical attack, Sen. Jim Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said the US should “go over and bomb.”

“I’d be disappointed if he didn’t,” said Inhofe, who is a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. “Let’s remember what happened a year ago, and that was very effective and he if loses the reputation we lost for eight years under Obama, we’re going to lose that position as leader of the free world. I really believe that. So he needs to take action.”

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut warned that an attack wouldn’t help end the civil war in Syria and said Trump must seek approval from Congress before attacking Syria.

“Trump seems to have signaled there’s going to be another military attack — that’s not permissible by law,” said Murphy, who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee. “I think a military attack will help him feel good but I don’t think it will actually change the calculus on the ground. It might make things much worse.”

Murphy is pushing Congress to pass a new Authorization for Use of Military Force to OK military action against Syria, although it’s not clear there is enough support in Congress to pass a new authorization.
CNN

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7 responses to “US Republican defense hawks urge Trump to strike Syria soon”

  1. I hope cooler heads prevail, nobody wants more death and destruction.

  2. Niemals Avatar

    Assad supporters spread false claims on child gas attack victims.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/245f0b5b92734f5d80e82a3f24aeefc8faee14b4129882ae1f4f122358f3e08b.jpg

    Screengrab of a video shared on social media by supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “Watch the staging of the chemical attack in Douma,” the title reads.

    – 04/12/2018 Assad supporters spread false claims on child gas attack victims.

    A video showing Syrian children pretending to suffocate and faint has been circulating on social media since April 7 by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad.
    They say this video proves that the chemical attack on the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta was staged by opponents of the Syrian regime.
    The video was indeed filmed in the Ghouta region – but back in 2013, as part of an effort by local activists to draw public attention to the dangers of chemical weapons. In the original six-minute version of the video, it is clearly explained that the scene is a dramatisation.

    The edited version of the video that is currently being shared by Assad supporters is just two minutes long. The first shot shows kids playing with a ball. Behind them, other children are sitting on chairs lined up in a row, as if they are about to watch a performance. Then, when a siren goes off, the children throw themselves on the ground and start writhing around.

    Men in white shirts run towards them and pretend to help them breathe with oxygen masks. Towards the end of the video, you can see the kids get up, unharmed, as the audience claps.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/29362c797ced13072626274ab1cf0a7632835bd27809ef5528c54996ca6e60ed.jpg Since April 7, the video has been shared on YouTube as well as pro-Assad Facebook pages.

    “Share this video so that it reaches the Security Council (…) In this staged version, children and fake emergency responders are being taught how to simulate a chemical attack in Douma,” reads a post on aFacebook page called Sourya alhadath (see below).
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f6474e2a999f2a6fb9f49b554e56494defb6b2b9d16c41b6f12de8b9150f01c0.jpg
    “A member of the White Helmets filmed this footage with his mobile phone and it was leaked before being edited,” another post claims https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bfe5a46b2f903a521d922702b8c7c100c84f4a6b08d5f56f956aa873ff6b35c3.jpg

    The original video, posted on September 2013 on YouTube.
    https://youtu.be/rSYR6NoGkD0
    The Syrian rebels accuse the regime of using chemical weapons against a hospital in Douma, Eastern Ghouta on April 7. According to medical charity Sams, at least 49 people were killed and dozens more injured.

    Numerous videos showing corpses in Douma have emerged since April 7. The independent investigative site Bellingcat has verified these videos’ authenticity.
    Debunked by the https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c00b816a47b6d00bd72d06828e6aff092584a3cabc490b8875888aa53e4ebe65.jpg

    1. Danny Farah Avatar
      Danny Farah

      But Assad supporters are Angels they don’t do such things. they never kill nobody. why you talking down on Assad. Lol

      1. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        Al Masdar – Beirut
        Home System Unavailable
        System is Unavailable 🙁
        We’re sorry, currently there seems to be something wrong.
        Unfortunately that brings cyber attacks from people that disagree with the news we publish and try to silence us’ https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/russian-mod-delivers-

      2. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        ‘Israeli warplanes increase flights along Syrian border
        By Leith Aboufadel – 13/04/20180’. Hacked!
        https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/israeli-warplanes-increase-flights-along-syrian-border/?utm_me

  3. Niemals Avatar

    The silence of the Arab world is puzzling.

    One could expect that since it is their part of the Muslim world, they would care more.

    While the rest of the world is puzzled over the whether and when of the US President Trump’s announced attack on Syria, there is little to hear from Arab states.

    Background are diverse interests and interdependencies.
    Should it really come to an American attack, it is likely that he is supported by Saudi Arabia’s allies, at least verbally. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ef6ad7256f9427aab2287c1f96bb9d0ae308123df075cf0257628daa6c057bf.jpg Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman declares in Paris his willingness to participate in an attack on Syria.

    The official stance of Lebanon, in which power is divided into denominational breaking points, is not uniform.
    The Maronite President Michel Aoun found unusually clear words and last referred to Bashar al-Assad as the “legitimate president” and “sole representative of Syria”.
    The Shiite parliamentary president, Nabih Berri, said that Lebanon rejects the aggression against Syria planned by some Western countries and that any use of Lebanese airspace is a “blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
    On the other hand, Sunni Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri affirms that his country will be neutral on an American attack.

    Out of a total of 22 Arab states, perhaps Algeria could make a critical statement about an attack.
    Algiers has maintained excellent relations with the Syrian regime since the beginning of the Syrian crisis seven years ago, and never misses an opportunity to voice its rejection of foreign military intervention: from the Gulf Wars of 1990 and 2003 to the NATO attack in Libya and the Saudi Arabian war in Yemen.

    However, neither the position of the Arab League nor that of the individual Arab states are relevant for any attack against Syria.
    Ultimately, decisions are made in Western capitals and depend as much on Moscow’s reactions as possible.

    Than we have a photo showing a child being washed after what the White Helmets and other anti-government groups in Syria claim was a chemical weapons attack in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/939c2326c9380508d8b06dd47572ea4dfdf4ac7ad17d905ebbc14a20bc1de485.jpg The Russian military says the photos were staged. © Reuters

    “Watch the staging of the chemical attack in Douma,” the title reads – 04/12/2018
    Assad supporters spread false claims on child gas attack victims.

    A video showing Syrian children pretending to suffocate and faint has been circulating on social media since April 7 by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad.
    They say this video proves that the chemical attack on the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta was staged by opponents of the Syrian regime.
    The video was indeed filmed in the Ghouta region – but back in 2013, as part of an effort by local activists to draw public attention to the dangers of chemical weapons. In the original six-minute version of the video, it is clearly explained that the scene is a dramatisation.

    The edited version of the video that is currently being shared by Assad supporters is just two minutes long.
    The first shot shows kids playing with a ball. Behind them, other children are sitting on chairs lined up in a row, as if they are about to watch a performance. Then, when a siren goes off, the children throw themselves on the ground and start writhing around.

    Men in white shirts run towards them and pretend to help them breathe with oxygen masks. Towards the end of the video, you can see the kids get up, unharmed, as the audience claps.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/29362c797ced13072626274ab1cf0a7632835bd27809ef5528c54996ca6e60ed.jpg Since April 7, the video has been shared on YouTube as well as pro-Assad Facebook pages.

    “Share this video so that it reaches the Security Council (…) In this staged version, children and fake emergency responders are being taught how to simulate a chemical attack in Douma,” reads a post on aFacebook page called Sourya alhadath (see below).
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f6474e2a999f2a6fb9f49b554e56494defb6b2b9d16c41b6f12de8b9150f01c0.jpg
    “A member of the White Helmets filmed this footage with his mobile phone and it was leaked before being edited,” another post claims https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bfe5a46b2f903a521d922702b8c7c100c84f4a6b08d5f56f956aa873ff6b35c3.jpg

    The original video, posted on September 2013 on YouTube.
    https://youtu.be/rSYR6NoGkD0
    The Syrian rebels accuse the regime of using chemical weapons against a hospital in Douma, Eastern Ghouta on April 7. According to medical charity Sams, at least 49 people were killed and dozens more injured.

    Numerous videos showing corpses in Douma have emerged since April 7. The independent investigative site Bellingcat has verified these videos’ authenticity.
    Debunked by the https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c00b816a47b6d00bd72d06828e6aff092584a3cabc490b8875888aa53e4ebe65.jpg

    It has been circulating on social media and southfront.org since April 7 by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad.
    There Are Some ‘Problems’ With Gas Cylinders Videos Used By White Helmets according to southfront.org……
    Idiotic question; “The question is why is the cylinder is undamaged after falling from hundreds meters above and crashing into the roof?” https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb5db20e344e8a1287519cfd89a59b5125c34e4037711f4501c6e8450cd959d4.jpg

    We have hade more than enough bombs falling from hundreds meters above and remain undamaged until 10. April 2018, another bomb has been found in Frankfurt.
    During construction work in the east of Frankfurt, the approximately 50-kilogram bomb from the Second World War was discovered. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18b3401f5e39a71a9ded400aa2998a71a819c3e05f6842ad5b1e40e575107272.jpg “The explosive device in the Seckbach district is to be defused 11. April” (Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d435a082fe430e839d7b4ccb0d3eb823d94f2856ebd37455d8023b85d233aa2.jpg bombs falling from hundreds meters – undamaged….
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66f1f2a112f154dc0af11ec985dacd2888626d0a077a9e61a8fc2d9739463dc4.jpg bombs falling from hundreds meters – undamaged….

  4. Niemals Avatar

    What a sick joke! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/416324cdadd86a690231b570842ab5c8c617d24a36cd14ec4a44eea413233de8.jpg The Russian Defense Ministry has ‘presented what it says is proof’ that the reported chemical weapons attack in Syria was staged.

    It also accused the British government of pressuring the perpetrators to speed up the “provocation.”
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf40f5599b92946f3e1aded925573bc6d6db1bd8e5f67046a8a6ed5420c750f0.jpg the video has been shared on YouTube as well as pro-Assad Facebook pages and now on RT.com. ????
    Debunked by the https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c00b816a47b6d00bd72d06828e6aff092584a3cabc490b8875888aa53e4ebe65.jpg

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