At UN, Britain says it has evidence of Syria sarin gas use

The US envoy took aim at Russian Federation, saying it must “stop covering for Assad” and accused Iran of “dumping fuel on the flames of this war in Syria so that it can expand its own reach”.

Trump, standing alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, called on allies to “work together to resolve the disaster” in Syria and thanked them for condemning Assad.

Russia’s deputy United Nations envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, said the draft resolution laid blame prior to an independent investigation.

“Frankly, Putin is backing a person that’s truly an evil person”, Trump said, referring to Assad.

The diplomat suggested that the group of inspectors should include experts from Western countries, countries in the Middle East and Russian Federation.

Washington blames Russia’s ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Moscow says Syrian rebels are responsible.

Tillerson said the United States is confident in its assessment that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons in the bombing on Khan Sheikhoun and alleged that Syria has used such weapons more than 50 times in the past.

The United States intercepted communications between Syrian military and chemical weapons experts discussing plans for a poison gas attack in Idlib province, CNN reported, citing an unidentified senior intelligence official.

But even if there is a definitive finding of Russian complicity, it’s not clear the Pentagon or the White House would make that information public, a senior USA official said.

Putin also asserted that Syria has complied with an agreement to dispose of chemical weapons “so far as we know”.

“It shouldn’t be allowed”. The Syrian people “have suffered six years of ever-escalating barbarity, over six years of failed ceasefires, and over the years, Russian Federation has held us ransom for the Assad regime“.

And the only thing Beijing might think was worse, she said, would be a unified and US-allied Korean Peninsula on the border.

But Spicer said “going in and occupying Syria for the express objective of regime change is something the president has been very clear on”.

“This is an act of aggression and major violation of the worldwide law and UN Charter”, the host FM Sergey Lavrov said, according to Russian state TASS news.

“I expressed the view that the current state of U.S. -Russia relations is at a low point.”, Tillerson said. “We can not talk about openly any complicity between the Russians and the Syrian regime in this – in this case, but we’re carefully assessing any information that would implicate the Russians knew or assisted with the Syrian capability”. Because Russia will not go away.

“On Syria, they are miles apart and it doesn’t seem that there’s been any breakthrough at all”, Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from the White House, said.

He said through a translator it was important for Russian Federation to understand the “real intentions” of the Trump administration.

China typically sides with Russian Federation in the Security Council, including in opposing US -backed measures to punish Syria for its use of chemical weapons.