Kevin Clements: Psychopathology and politics – attack Syria to divert attention at home

The strikes suggest that Trump may have reset America’s red line for military intervention in Syria over the use of chemical weapons.

The raids hit two chemical weapons facilities and a military command post in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for President Assad’s chemical attack that left up 75 civilians dead last week.

“Saudi Arabia fully supports the strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain against Syria because they represent a response to the regime’s crimes”, a foreign ministry statement said. “However, we used a little over double the number of weapons this year than we used last year”. In turn, Russian Federation stated that it convenes an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

Russian Federation and fellow pro-Syrian government ally Iran slammed the US-led airstrikes for taking place before the OPCW could conduct its probe.

“When you shoot iron into the air without guidance, it’s going to come down somewhere”, McKenzie said.

The White House says Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday following airstrikes to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians in the town outside Damascus. “Weapons of mass destruction won’t create a military advantage once the United States is done with you, and Russian Federation can not protect its clients from the United States“.

Disputing the Russian military’s contention that Syrian air defense units downed 71 allied missiles, McKenzie said no U.S. or allies missiles were stopped.

By Saturday morning, Trump celebrated a “perfectly executed strike”.

“We have to be conscious of the fact that we can’t allow even the smallest use of chemical weapons”.

The vote reflected the deep divisions in the UN’s most powerful body, which has been paralyzed in dealing with the seven-year Syrian conflict and chemical weapons use in the country.

“The Syrian raid was so perfectly carried out, with such precision, that the only way the Fake News Media could demean was by my use of the term ‘Mission Accomplished, ‘” the us leader tweeted Sunday morning.

Addressing the council, Guterres urged all countries to uphold worldwide law and warned that “Syria today represents the most serious threat to global peace and security”. At least three people were injured in the latest US-led strike, the Syrian UN envoy said.

“I spoke to President Trump this morning and he said if the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded”, Haley said at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting called by Russian Federation.

Officials said Trump was also frustrated that economic, diplomatic and political efforts aimed at convincing Assad that using chemical weapons was not in his interest had failed.

She dismissed as “grotesque and absurd” a claim by Russian Federation, which joined the war in 2015 to back Assad, that Britain had staged the Douma attack.

The bombardment, including both cruise missiles and air-to-surface strikes, hit Syria around 4:00 am on Saturday (0100 GMT), jolting people awake in the capital’s nearby residential neighbourhoods.

In separate calls, the Prime Minister spoke to the USA and French presidents to discuss the offensive and the three leaders agreed it had been a “success”, a No 10 spokesman said.

Her decision to authorise action without MPs’ backing has been criticised by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who said she could “easily” have recalled Parliament or delayed her decision until MPs returned to Westminster from the Easter recess.

The Pentagon said one of the targets was a scientific research centre located in the greater Damascus area, which it said was involved in the development, production and testing of chemical and biological weaponry.