The United States is weighing a multinational military response to the suspected Syrian poison gas attack as experts listed several key facilities that could be viable targets.

US President Donald Trump promised forceful action on Monday, saying a decision would be made soon following the suspected chemical weapons attack late on Saturday in the Syrian city of Douma that killed at least 60 people and injured more than 1000 others.

US officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity did not disclose any plans, but acknowledged military options were being developed.

The White House, Pentagon and State Department declined to comment on specific options or whether military action was likely.

Experts on Syria's war cited France and perhaps even Britain and Middle East allies as potential partners in any US military operation, which would aim to discourage future chemical weapons use in Syria's brutal civil war.

President Emmanuel Macron warned in February that France would strike Syria if it broke treaties prohibiting chemical weapons. France has more than a dozen warplanes in the Middle East and could look to strike from the sea.

British UN Ambassador Karen Pierce told reporters that Britain "would prefer to start with a proper investigation" but that all options were on the table and London was in close contact with its US and French allies.

Experts speculated that the retaliatory strikes, should they happen, would likely focus on facilities linked to past reports of Syrian chemical weapons attacks.

They cited potential strikes against bases including Dumayr air base, which is home to Syrian Mi-8 helicopters and has been linked in social media to the strike in Douma.

One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was unaware of any decision to go ahead with a strike, but said any plans for a possible attack could focus on targets associated with Syria's chemical weapons program while seeking to avoid anything that could spread poisonous fallout in civilian areas.

A more provocative strike could target Humaymim Airfield in northwest Syria, which was singled out by the White House in a March 4 statement that identified it as the starting point for bombing missions by Russian military aircraft in Damascus and Eastern Ghouta.

Speaking at a meeting with military leaders and national security advisers, Trump said he would make a decision by Monday night "or very shortly thereafter" on a response, adding that the United States had "a lot of options militarily" on Syria.

Two days after the attack, the White House was still only able to say that the attack fit the pattern of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapon use.

Initial US assessments have so far been unable to determine conclusively what materials were used in the attack and could not say with 100 per cent certainty that Assad's government forces were behind it.

The US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said Washington "will respond" to the attack regardless of whether the UN Security Council acts or not.

The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied involvement in the attack. </s> According to the SANA news agency, a false alarm of an airspace violation triggered the launch of air defense sirens and several interceptor missiles in the early hours of Tuesday, but there was no external attack on Syria.

Furthermore, a source at the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport told Sputnik that the Israeli Air Force jets could not strike the base since they had not entered the Lebanese airspace at the time of the suspected strike.

"At 21:00-01:30 [local time] there was no Israeli aircraft in the airspace of Lebanon," the source said.

Following the reports, a UK Defense Ministry spokeswoman told Sputnik that the UK was not conducting any military operations in Syria on the night of Tuesday.

Last Saturday, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom launched strikes on a number of targets in Syria in response to an alleged chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

The attack came the same day that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission was set to start the probe into the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, which the West had immediately blamed on Damascus.

Following the accusations, the Syrian government has strongly denied being behind the alleged attack and stated that the missile strike was "brutal aggression." </s> United States Department of Defense(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. and its allies are “still assessing the intelligence” needed to prove the Assad regime conducted a recent alleged chemical attack in Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday.

When asked if he had seen enough evidence to blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for last weekend’s alleged chemical weapons attack in the city of Douma, Mattis said, “We are still assessing the intelligence, ourselves and our allies. We’re still working on this,” referring to France and the United Kingdom.

Mattis spoke to reporters prior to a meeting at the Pentagon with the Netherlands’ minister of defense.

His comments came hours after President Donald Trump tweeted that Russia should be “ready” because “nice and new and ‘smart'” missiles “will be coming.”

Trump’s tweet seemed to be a response to Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon who told Hezbollah TV this morning that Russia will shoot down U.S. missiles and target launch sites. Russia has previously threatened to shoot down U.S. missiles and aircraft that threaten the lives of Russian personnel in Syria.

When asked if the U.S. military was ready to conduct a counter retaliatory strike if ordered, Mattis said, “We stand ready to provide military options if they are appropriate as the President determines.”

He would not say whether he was concerned about the president telegraphing U.S. military action in Syria.

On Monday, Trump said “major decisions” would be made on Syria in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Options for U.S. retaliation against the Syrian government over the alleged chemical attack run the gamut from light to heavy impact, according to a U.S. official.

Trump has had several phone conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on how the West should act in order to reinforce an international prohibition against chemical warfare.

Macron on Tuesday evening said he wants “a strong and joint response” to the attack, saying that France would decide in the coming days alongside the U.S. and Britain.

There are French aircraft in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and British aircraft in Cyprus. Both carry Storm Shadow or SCALP cruise missiles.

According to the official, one option being considered by the U.S. military is striking at the Assad regime’s command and control headquarters for the Syrian military. Another option is striking at areas where the Assad regime houses its chemical weapons.

The U.S. could also conduct limited military strikes, such as the Tomahawk missiles launched from a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Mediterranean targeting a Syrian airstrip almost exactly a year ago after an alleged chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib that killed more than 100 people.

These attacks could require routing cruise missiles around several Russian S-400 air defense batteries located inside Syria.

If the administration decides to launch Tomahawk missiles again, there’s only one U.S. Navy ship in the eastern Mediterranean that could do it: the USS Donald Cook.

On Monday, the Navy announced the ship was leaving Larnaca, Cyprus after a port call. A U.S. defense official told ABC News that the Cook’s departure on Monday was previously scheduled and not related to possible military action in Syria.

The Cook is equipped with Aegis, a quick reaction air and ballistic missile defense system.

Heeding the possibility of U.S. military action, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday that Russia’s Navy will conduct military exercises off the coast of Syria on Wednesday.

It’s believed that any U.S. military response is unlikely to include significant numbers of ground forces. Trump signaled last month that he wanted a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces in Syria, taking observers by surprise.

Meanwhile, leading officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have requested access to the site of the alleged chemical weapons attack that took place on a Syrian rebel-held neighborhood on Saturday.

On Monday, the World Health Organization said that, during the shelling of Douma, “an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals.”

“More than 70 people sheltering in basements have reportedly died, with 43 of those deaths related to symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals,” the organization said. “Two health facilities were also reportedly affected by these attacks.”

There have been 10 chemical attacks recorded by activists and doctors in Syria this year, including the alleged incident in Douma, according to the Syrian American Medical Society. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is weighing a multinational military response to the suspected Syrian poison gas attack, U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, as experts listed several key facilities that could be viable targets.

U.S. President Donald Trump receives a briefing from senior military leadership accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence and new National Security Adviser John Bolton at the Cabinet room of the White House in Washington, DC, U.S. April 9, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. President Donald Trump promised forceful action on Monday, saying a decision would be made soon following the suspected chemical weapons attack late on Saturday in the Syrian city of Douma that killed at least 60 people and injured more than 1,000 others.

U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity did not disclose any plans, but acknowledged military options were being developed. The White House, Pentagon and State Department declined to comment on specific options or whether military action was likely.

Experts on Syria’s war cited France and perhaps even Britain and Middle East allies as potential partners in any U.S. military operation, which would aim to discourage future chemical weapons use in Syria’s brutal civil war.President Emmanuel Macron warned in February that France would strike Syria if it broke treaties prohibiting chemical weapons. France has more than a dozen warplanes in the Middle East and could look to strike from the sea.

British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce told reporters that Britain “would prefer to start with a proper investigation” but that all options were on the table and London was in close contact with its U.S. and French allies.

U.S. intelligence officials said they believed a chemical attack did take place but that Washington was still gathering information. Trump said he was getting clarity about who precisely was responsible for the attack, but did not elaborate.

Experts speculated that the retaliatory strikes, should they happen, would likely focus on facilities linked to past reports of Syrian chemical weapons attacks.

They cited potential strikes against bases including Dumayr air base, which is home to Syrian Mi-8 helicopters and has been linked in social media to the strike in Douma.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was unaware of any decision to go ahead with a strike, but said any plans for a possible attack could focus on targets associated with Syria’s chemical weapons program while seeking to avoid anything that could spread poisonous fallout in civilian areas.

A more provocative strike could target Humaymim Airfield in northwest Syria, which was singled out by the White House in a March 4 statement that identified it as the starting point for bombing missions by Russian military aircraft in Damascus and Eastern Ghouta.

“It depends on how serious they are,” said Hassan Hassan, a senior fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.

RUSSIAN THREATS

The United States fired missiles at the Shayrat air base a year ago in response to the killing of dozens of civilians in a sarin gas attack in an opposition-held town.

The United States warned Russia prior to the strikes themselves, seeking to avoid killing Russian forces. The base quickly resumed flights and the strikes did little long-term damage to Syria’s broader military campaign, thanks largely to robust Iranian and Russian support.

In recent weeks, however, Trump, along with his top advisers, have stressed Russia’s complicity in Assad’s actions. Trump on Sunday specifically criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for backing Assad, whom he called an “animal.”

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday that Moscow had warned the United States of grave repercussions if it carried out an attack against Syrian government forces.

Jennifer Cafarella, at the Institute for the Study of War think tank in Washington, cautioned that Washington needed to be ready for retaliation, particularly if the U.S. strikes imposed military costs to Iran or Russia.

“The U.S. needs to contemplate whether Assad, and/or the Russians and the Iranians will escalate against deployed U.S. forces in Syria in retaliation,” Cafarella said.

She said Syria might have tipped its hand as to how it would respond to a limited U.S. strike earlier on Monday, when Syrian air defense systems shot down five out of eight missiles fired from suspected Israeli warplanes.

They did not shoot down the attacking aircraft.

At the time, there was social media reporting that the strike was being carried out by the U.S. military, which the Pentagon denied.

“I think that tells you something about what the rules of engagement were at the time,” Cafarella said. </s> “I would clarify here that the history of these three states [U.S., Britain and France] is built on using lies and fabricated stories to wage aggressive wars in order to occupy states, seize their resources, and change governments in them by [genocidal] force.” Dr Bashar al-Jaafari, Syrian Ambassador to the U.N.

On 14 April 2018, the U.S., France and Britain committed another barbaric act of aggression against the majority-Muslim nation of Syria. Donald Trump, Emmanuelle Macron and Theresa May claim that their combined aggression was in response to the alleged “chemical attack” in the Damascus suburb of Douma (in the Ghouta district) by the Syrian Government. The aggression was an act of state terrorism in flagrant violation of UN Charter, the principles of international law and civilised norms.

The attacks targeted a University building, the Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology (HIAST). Before the attack, the building is used to produce pharmaceutical products and testing toys for safety for a nation under criminal sanctions. By targeting a university and a research centre, the U.S.-led criminals were apparently trying “to destroy Syria’s scientific capabilities as the Centre was pursuing various civilian-use [research] objectives,” said Anton Utkin, a Russian chemical weapons expert. It is a deliberate war crime. The building was previously used by the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The other targets were empty storage facilities near Homs, and the Dumayr airfield. The timing of the aggression came just hours before the OPCW experts were set to arrive in Syria – at the request of the Syrian government – to visit the suburb of Douma on Saturday to establish whether chemical weapons had been used there last week. It is possible that the attacks were aimed at sabotaging the OPCW mission and preventing a serious investigation. Tampering with evidence is a U.S. tradition.

The reaction of the Russian government to U.S.-led aggression was restrained, despite having considerable military forces, including advanced military aircrafts and ant-aircraft missile batteries, legally deployed in in Syria. With the usual “civilised” rhetoric towards Western leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin rightly observed that, the attacks were, “an aggression against a sovereign state which is at the forefront of the fight against international terrorism”. One thing the aggression on Syria proves, is that the U.S., France, and Britain are acting as air force for the terrorists, protecting them and facilitating their terror advances.

Meanwhile, the Syrian and Iranian governments condemned the aggression as a “barbaric” and “criminal” violation of Syria’s sovereignty that would only embolden the remaining terrorists there. “The attitude of the French, British and Americans is the same attitude, which used by Adolf Hitler in 1939 to enter into World War Two,” said senior German politician (CDU,) Mr Willy Wimmer. The difference is that, the U.S and its vassal-state allies (namely Britain, France and Israel) are far more dangerous and pose greater threat to world’s peace and humanity than Germany under Hitler. The U.S.-led reign of terror is holding the whole world hostage.

While the world’s eyes have been glazed over by the propaganda of chemical attack in Syria, little notice is given to the on-going massacre of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators by the Israeli army. They were protesting on their own land occupied by the Israeli fascist regime. On “Good Friday”, Israeli soldiers deliberately and in cold blood murdered more than 20 unarmed Palestinian protesters inside the Gaza Concentration Camp, many of them shot in the back. The U.S. gave the Israeli terrorists the green light to shoot to kill peaceful Palestinian protesters. The massacre of Palestinians was endorsed by most Jewish organisations, including the fifty-two Major Jewish American Organisations, who control the U.S. Congress. It is certain that the U.S.-led aggression on Syria was at the Israeli regime’s behest to divert attention away from the regime war crimes against the Palestinians.

The U.S., Britain and France pretend to be concern about “human rights” in Syria in the same way Hitler used human rights to justify his aggression and war crimes. Trump, Macron and May claimed that the aggression against Syria was in retaliation to what they alleged a chemical attack by the Syrian Government on civilians in the city of Douma, which was until recently occupied by Western-backed international terrorists (ISIS, al-Qaeda, Jaish al-Islam and their affiliates). They did not provide any evidence to substantiate their allegation. More on this later.

Since when these three outlaw imperialists became concern about civilians? In fact, in all their wars and genocidal sanctions against sovereign nations, the civilian population were the main target. The U.S., Britain and France have killed far more civilians in the countries they attacked than any other military power. The mass murder of innocent Iraqi civilians is a case in point.

The U.S., Britain and France are the greatest violators of human rights. Their imperialist hands are stained with the blood of African, Iraqi, Syrian, Afghan, Libyan, Palestinian and Yemeni women and children. The U.S. and its attack dog Israel have used chemical weapons to attack civilians in Vietnam, Iraq, and Palestine. Only the most naïve people in the world would buy into such a cock and bull story. Their compassion for the victims of their imperialist wars stops at their borders. For example, the U.S. has admitted no more than 40 Syrian refuges to settle in the U.S. this year, a more than 99% decrease from the 5,800 admitted last year (Washington Post, 12 April 2018). Britain, France and other U.S. vassal-state allies are not better when it comes to human rights of refugees.

There was no chemical attack in Douma. According to on the ground reports by German n-tv and Robert Fisk of the Independent newspaper, People were suffering from hypoxia, oxygen loss because of dust clouds created by the terrorists’ intense shelling (YouTube Video). The morally-corrupt U.S., Britain and France are falsely accusing President Bashar al-Assad of “gassing his own people”. They did not provide a single shred of evidence to support this dirty propaganda. Indeed, on 12 April 2018, U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. government does not have any evidence that sarin or chlorine was used by the Syrian forces, and that he was still looking for evidence. Furthermore, the Syrian forces have no reason to use chemical weapons. Having liberated Ghouta and Douma from the Western-sponsored international terrorists, who were recruited, armed, funded and defended by the U.S. and its allies (Anderson, 2016), it is increasingly unlikely that the Syrian forces would use chemical weapons against their compatriots, mostly women and children.

There are overwhelming evidence that the allegation of chemical attack was a false flag terrorist attack staged by Western-sponsored terrorists and Western media as detailed by Gregory Shupak, Fair, and Virginia State’s Senator Richard Black. Moreover, former Britain’s Ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford told BBC Radio Scotland, that the chemical attack in Douma “has been staged”. False flag terrorism is a Western tradition. The false flag attack was coordinated with the British intelligence services, the C.I.A. and Western-funded NGOs, such as “White Helmets” (a.k.a. al-Qaeda). The “White Helmets” are funded by the C.I.A. and the British Foreign Office, while the “Syrian-American Medical Society” or SAMS is funded by the USAID and the State Department. Both NGOs are propaganda organs working on behalf of the terrorists (Max Blumenthal, Mint Press). They fabricate lies as a provocation to mislead public opinions and justify aggression against Syria, and of course whip up anti-Russia hysteria. They have unfettered access to Western media to disseminate anti-Syria propaganda. Western NGOs are funded, not because of their “humanitarian” work. They are funded to shape the way abuses and crimes are reported. They are funded because they are cheerleaders for Western aggression. For example, in the West, the “White Helmets” group is known as a humanitarian NGO, but in Syria, it is a terrorist group that committed atrocities against Syrian civilians living under the terrorists imposed reign of terror.

The Syrian government destroyed all its chemical stockpiles several years ago. In 2013, Syria’s stockpiles were handed over to the U.S. and Russia as part of a joint international deal and were destroyed aboard U.S. naval vessel. It was verified by OPCW inspectors. Hence, Syria is clean of chemical weapon. It is important to remember that, in 2003, the U.S. and Britain used the same fabricated lies – accused Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction – to justify a premeditated and indiscriminate barbaric attack on Iraq. The illegal military invasion and subsequent military occupation of Iraq caused the death of more than 2.5 million innocent Iraqi civilians and left Iraq lies in ruins. Iraq remains under Nazi-like U.S. military occupation. Today’s Iraq has practically no domestic industry, most Iraqis are living below the poverty line and the literacy of the population has never been as low as it is today. The looted country has become a dumping ground for cheap and outdated U.S. products. Only immoral people will want Syria to suffer the same reign of terror and suffering inflicted on Iraq.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Web Site, Zero Hedge: Out of the 103 or 105 Tomahawk “smart” missiles used by the three aggressor states against Syrian targets, 71 were successfully shot-down by the Syrian Arab Army using out-dated 30 year old Soviet era anti-aircraft systems. In addition, the French Navy confirmed that several French missiles failed to fire. The Dumayr airfield, one of the coalition main targets, emerged completely unharmed. The aggression was nothing more than a hollow show of force that failed to produce Trump’s so-called “perfectly executed mission”. It is a political charade. Independent media reports from Syria after the attacks show Syrians dancing in the morning following the Syrian military’s successful repulsion of an attempted Western aggression on their nation. The “Syrian people are celebrating a historic victory in a battle that threatened to take the entire world to war”, writes Venessa Beeley, an independent correspondent for 21stCentury Wire. The silence of Western media designed to cover-up a different reality, which if it is exposed it will destroy U.S.-Western fabricated image of military “invincibility”.

The U.S. and its vassal-state allies have no interests in Syria. Their primary interest is to destroy and occupy Syria for Israel. The destruction of Syria is part of a planned U.S. aggression to destroy seven Muslim-majority nations, starting with Iraq, moving to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran. The perpetrators of this criminal plan are the pro-Israel U.S. neo-Nazis, better known as the “Neocon cabal”. Their aim is to destabilise the region to safeguard Israel’s fascist interests. It is important to remember that, Trump, Macron and May were put in their positions by big corporations and wealthy pro-Israel Zionists, “the Deep State”, which controls most Western regimes. The deep State constitutes of wealthy and influential (special interests) Jews who control the Western media, the Internet (Google and Facebook), Hollywood industry, and world’s financial system, including Wall Street, and Rothschild Bank. In fact, Emmanuel Macron, Europe’s most enthusiastic supporter of terrorism today, was groomed and put in office by pro-Israel wealthy Jews, including his former employer, Rothschild Bank. It follows that, the barbaric aggression against Syria – like all other U.S.-led wars on Muslim-majority nations – is a war for the fascist state of Israel. The aggression against Syria was an attempt by both Macron and May to show their loyalty and win the approval of the pro-Israel Zionists who put them in office.

As professor Tim Anderson writes: “Although every war makes ample use of lies and deception, the dirty war on Syria has relied a level of mass disinformation not seen in living memory.” The U.S.-led aggression against Syria is another clear case of barbarism. It is paramount that the force of lies and propaganda be exposed and defeated to save world’s peace. Trump, Macron and May should be held accountable in court of law for their barbaric aggression on Syria.



 Ghali Hassan is an independent political analyst and researcher living in Australia. </s> Following Sundays chemical weapon attack in Douma that was blamed on the Syrian government, Israel launched missiles at a Syrian airbase according to the Russian MoD.



The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that two Israeli F-15 fighters targeted Syria’s T-4 airbase in the Homs province.

The jets fired eight guided missiles, but five of them were shot down before they hit the airfield.

The missiles crossed Lebanese air space to reach their intended target. Activists ssay that at least 14 people were killed in the strike, including Iranians.

RT reports: In a statement on Monday, the Russian military said: “Two Israeli Air Force F-15 jets fired eight guided missiles at the T-4 airfield.” The Israeli aircraft did not enter Syrian airspace and launched the strikes while flying over Lebanon.

Syrian air defense units have shot down five guided missiles,” the military said, but confirmed that three of the missiles “reached the western part of the airfield.”

The Israeli embassy in Moscow refused to comment on the Russian Defense Ministry’s report, Alex Gandler, the diplomatic mission’s press attache, told Sputnik. Asked about the Russian military’s statement, an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said he had no immediate comment, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Citing its own correspondent, Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen channel said earlier on Monday that an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft was airborne during the attack on the Syrian base. The missiles crossed Lebanese airspace over Keserwan and Bekaa, heading towards Syria, according to the broadcaster.

The missile attack took place on Sunday night in Syria’s Homs governorate. State news agency SANA reported there were several “martyrs and wounded,” but did not disclose the exact number of casualties. The report also said that the US was “probably” behind the attack, although Washington denied any complicity in the strike.

“At this time, the Department of Defense is not conducting airstrikes in Syria,” the Pentagon told Reuters in a statement. “However, we continue to closely watch the situation and support the ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable.”

France, which was also suspected of being involved in the attack, denied any responsibility for the military strike, AFP reported on Monday.

The strike on the T-4 base came shortly after Western powers accused the Syrian government of orchestrating an alleged a chlorine attack in the militant-held town of Douma. The chemical incident was reported by the White Helmets, a controversial group repeatedly accused of having ties to terrorists.

Commenting on the unconfirmed gas attack, US President Donald Trump denounced the “mindless” atrocity, which he described as a “humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever.” He also accused Russia and Iran of bearing responsibility for the incident, due to their support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Washington and Paris have already held telephone talks, during which Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron decided to oppose Russia at the upcoming United Nations Security Council meeting, which is being convened to discuss the Douma incident. President Macron previously signaled that Paris might consider unilateral actions, including a military strike, if chemical weapons were ever used in Syria again.

The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced allegations regarding the chemical attack, calling them a “continuous series of fake news” and “baseless speculation.” It noted that Moscow had already warned about a false-flag chemical attack being prepared in recent months. Damascus also rejected the accusations, with the Syrian Foreign Ministry pointing out that similar allegations emerge every time the Syrian Army makes advances in its fight against terrorists. </s> The United States, France, and Britain launched military strikes in Syria in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad chemical attack against civilians and to prevent him from doing it again.

Following the allied airstrike launched Friday evening, the United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting, Saturday.

The post Watch Live: UN Security Council holds emergency meeting following U.S., allied airstrikes in Syria appeared first on 850 WFTL. </s> By ZEINA KARAM | The Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state-run television has reported that the country’s defenses have confronted a new “aggression,” shooting down missiles over the central Homs region.

It didn’t say who carried out the early Tuesday airstrikes. The Syrian Central Media said the missiles targeted Shayrat air base in Homs. Another strike earlier this month in Homs was blamed on Israel.

The report comes a few days after the U.S., Britain and France conducted airstrikes targeting alleged chemical weapons facilities in Syria, in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack that they blamed on the Syrian government.

Experts from the international chemical weapons watchdog are in Syria and are now expected to visit that site in the town of Douma Wednesday. That’s after Syrian and Russian authorities prevented them from going to the scene Monday. </s> The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not clear who was behind Monday's early morning missile strike on the Syrian government's T4 air base.

It lies between Syria's third city Homs and the ancient town of Palmyra.

Most of those killed were either Iranians or members of Iran-backed groups, said Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the observatory, which has regularly monitored Syria's seven-year war.

Lebanese media said that residents living near that country's border with Syria had heard unidentified jets in the early morning hours of Monday.

Read more: Syria: rebels evacuate Douma under new agreement

Earlier, Syrian state media had spoken of dead and wounded at the base, without giving casualty figures.

The Pentagon said: "The Department of Defense is not conducting air strikes in Syria." Defense analysts quoted by Reuters said there were deployments of Russian forces at the base.

French armed forces spokesman Colonel Patrik Steiger also denied France carried out the strike, telling the French news agency AFP: "It was not us."

A military spokeswoman for Israel, which on occasions in the past has struck targets inside Syria, declined to comment on explosions at T4.

On Sunday French President Emmanuel Macron had spoken by phone with US President Donald Trump, who had previously warned there would be a "big price to pay" for Saturday's suspected poison-gas attack on Douma.

For weeks, the remnant rebel holdout east of Damascus has faced an offensive by Syrian government forces, prompting moves to evacuate civilians, although Jaish al-Islam rebels have not confirmed such a deal.

The Syrian government denied staging Saturday's suspected poison gas assault on Douma. Russia, Assad's ally, said such accounts were "fabricated."

Moscow said some 8,000 fighters and 40,000 civilians would be bussed out and said that proved "no chemical weapons were used in this area."

In February, Macron had said "France will strike" in the event of a lethal chemical weapon attack on civilians by government forces in Syria.

Relief workers inside Douma told AFP on Sunday that dead bodies still lay in the streets and hospitals were teeming with dead and wounded.

Douma was once one of the hubs of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising against Assad's government.

Read more: What does the chemical weapons watchdog OPCW do?

In April 2017, Trump ordered a strike on another Syrian air base, Shayrat, 70 kilometers (45 miles) west of T4, following similar allegations that Assad had used banned chemicals on civilians.

The UN Security Council has called an emergency meeting for Monday to discuss the incident amid worldwide outrage over the alleged used of poison gas.
The United States, France, and the United Kingdom target chemical weapon sites and other Syrian military sites with missile strikes on early Saturday morning Syrian time (EET), in response to the Douma chemical attack.