Putin predicts global 'chaos' if West hits Syria again

Russian military police forces are seen at the Wafideen area near the town of Douma, northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus. File picture: Monsef Memeri/AP

Russian military police forces are seen at the Wafideen area near the town of Douma, northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus. File picture: Monsef Memeri/AP

Published Apr 16, 2018

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Moscow/Damascus - Russian President

Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that further Western attacks on

Syria would bring chaos to world affairs, as Washington prepared

to increase pressure on Russia with new economic sanctions.

In a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart,

Hassan Rouhani, Putin and Rouhani agreed that the Western

strikes had damaged the chances of achieving a political

resolution in the seven-year Syria conflict, according to a

Kremlin statement.

"Vladimir Putin, in particular, stressed that if such

actions committed in violation of the UN Charter continue,

then it will inevitably lead to chaos in international

relations," the Kremlin statement said.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, told

CBS' "Face the Nation" programme that the United States would

announce new economic sanctions on Monday aimed at companies

"that were dealing with equipment" related to Syrian President

Bashar al-Assad's alleged chemical weapons use.

On Saturday, the United States, France and Britain launched

105 missiles targeting what the Pentagon said were three

chemical weapons facilities in Syria in retaliation for a

suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7.

The Western countries blame Assad for the Douma attack that

killed dozens of people. The Syrian government and its ally

Russia have denied involvement in any such attack.

The bombings marked the biggest intervention by Western

countries against Assad and ally Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that he had

convinced Trump, who previously said he wanted to take US forces out of Syria, to stay for "the long term".

The United States, France and Britain have said the missile

strikes were limited to Syria's chemical weapons capabilities

and not aimed at toppling Assad or intervening in the civil war.

Macron said in an interview broadcast by BFM TV, RMC radio and

Mediapart online news that he had convinced Trump to focus on

the chemical weapons sites.

The White House pushed back against Macron's comments about

Trump's intentions for US forces.

“The US mission has not changed - the president has been

clear that he wants US forces to come home as quickly as

possible," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

"We are determined to completely crush ISIS and create the

conditions that will prevent its return." she said. "In addition

we expect our regional allies and partners to take greater

responsibility both militarily and financially for securing the

region.”

Also read: Syria strike was perfectly executed, says Trump

Responding to Haley's remarks about the plans for new

sanctions, Evgeny Serebrennikov, deputy head of the defence

committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, said Moscow was

ready for the penalties, according to RIA news agency.

"They are hard for us, but will do more damage to the USA

and Europe," RIA quoted Serebrennikov as saying.

In Damascus, Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad,

met inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW

for about three hours in the presence of Russian officers and a

senior Syrian security official.

The inspectors were due to attempt to visit the Douma site.

Moscow condemned the Western states for refusing to wait for the

OPCW's findings before attacking.

Mekdad declined to comment to reporters waiting outside the

hotel where the meeting took place.

Assad told a group of visiting Russian lawmakers that the

Western missile strikes were an act of aggression, Russian news

agencies reported.

Russian agencies quoted the lawmakers as saying that Assad

was in a "good mood", had praised the Soviet-era air defence

systems Syria used to repel the Western attacks and had accepted

an invitation to visit Russia at an unspecified time.

Trump had said: "Mission accomplished" on Twitter after the

strikes, although US Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie at

the Pentagon acknowledged elements of the program remained and

he could not guarantee that Syria would be unable to conduct a

chemical attack in the future.

Russian and Iranian military help over the past three years

has allowed Assad to crush the rebel threat to topple him.

Although Israel has at times urged stronger US involvement

against Assad and his Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah

reinforcements in Syria, it voiced backing for Saturday's air

strikes by Western powers.

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Sunday that

Western strikes on Syria had failed to achieve anything,

including terrorizing the army, helping insurgents or serving

the interests of Israel.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the US military had kept its

strikes limited because it knew a wider attack would spark

retaliation from Damascus and its allies and inflame the region.

"The American (military) knows well that going towards a

wide confrontation and a big operation against the regime and

the army and the allied forces in Syria could not end, and any

such confrontation would inflame the entire region," Nasrallah

said.

The heavily armed, Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah

movement, which fights alongside the Syrian army and is

represented in the Beirut government, has been a vital ally of

Damascus in Syria's war.

France, the United States and Britain circulated a draft

resolution to the UN Security Council late on Saturday that

aims to establish an independent inquiry into who is responsible

for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The mechanism would look

at cases where the OPCW fact-finding mission has established

chemical weapons were used or likely used.

Diplomats said negotiations on the draft resolution would

begin on Monday and it was not immediately clear when the United

States, France and Britain wanted to put it to a vote.

Reuters