September 8, 2018 /
4:46 AM / Updated 2 hours ago
U.S. military drawing up options should Syria use
chemical weapons
Phil Stewart
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - America’s top general on Saturday
said he was involved in “routine dialogue” with the White House about military
options should Syria ignore U.S. warnings against using chemical weapons in an
expected assault on the enclave of Idlib.
FILE PHOTO: U.S.
Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joseph Dunford attends a meeting of the National
Space Council in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 18,
2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, said no decision had been made by the United States to employ
military force in response to a future chemical attack in Syria.
“But we are in a dialogue, a routine dialogue, with the
president to make sure he knows where we are with regard to planning in the
event that chemical weapons are used,” he told a small group of reporters
during a trip to India.
Dunford later added: “He expects us to have military
options and we have provided updates to him on the development of those
military options.”
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has massed his army and
allied forces on the front lines in the northwest, and Russian planes have
joined his bombardment of rebels there, in a prelude to a widely expected
assault despite objections from Turkey.
This week, a top U.S. envoy said there was “lots of
evidence” that chemical weapons were being prepared by Syrian government forces
in Idlib.
Sponsored
The White House has warned that the United States and its
allies would respond “swiftly and vigorously” if government forces used
chemical weapons in Idlib. President Donald Trump has twice bombed Syria over
its alleged use of chemical weapons, in April 2017 and April 2018.
Dunford did not say, one way or the other, what he expected
Trump to do should Syria use chemical weapons again.
France’s top military official also said last week his
forces were prepared to carry out strikes on Syrian targets if chemical weapons
were used in Idlib.
Dunford declined to comment on U.S. intelligence about the
possible Syrian preparations of chemical agents.
“I wouldn’t comment on intelligence at all, in terms of
what we have, what we don’t have,” he said. ‘DISAPPOINTING’
Idlib is the insurgents’ only remaining major stronghold
and a government offensive could be the last decisive battle in a war that has
killed more than half a million people and forced 11 million to flee their
homes.
The presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia on Friday failed
to agree on a ceasefire that would forestall an offensive.
Asked whether there was still a chance the assault on Idlib
could be averted, Dunford said: “I don’t know if there’s anything that can stop
it.”
“It’s certainly disappointing but perhaps not (surprising)
that the Russians, the Turks and the Iranians weren’t able to come up with a
solution yesterday,” he said.
Tehran and Moscow have helped Assad turn the course of the
war against an array of opponents ranging from Western-backed rebels to the
Islamist militants, while Turkey is a leading opposition supporter and has
troops in the country.
Turkey says it fears a massacre and it can not accommodate
any more refugees flooding over its border.
But Russia’s Vladimir Putin said on Friday a ceasefire
would be pointless as it would not involve Islamist militant groups it deems
terrorists.
Dunford has warned about the potential for a humanitarian
catastrophe in Idlib and instead has recommended more narrowly tailored
operations against militants there.
“There’s a more effective way to do counterterrorism
operations than major conventional operations in Idlib,” he said.
Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Robert Birsel
Our Standards:The
Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
مطالب مارا در وبلاک خط سرخ مقاومت ودر توئیتربنام @bahareazady دنبال کنید
پیش بسوی قیام سراسری ، ما بر اندازیم# شهرهای ایران اعتصاب # تظاهرات#
سرنگونی # اتحادوهمبستگی مرگ_بر_دیکتاتور #IranRegimeChange
