Air Strikes Reportedly Hit Syrian Airfield

The US has denied it conducted air strikes in Syria after state television reported a missile attack on a government air base.

The US denial followed a report by Syrian state television of loud explosions heard near the T-4 airfield in the Syrian city of Homs in the early hours of Monday.

The report on state news media SANA first said the missile strike on the Tayfur base was a “suspected US attack,” but it later withdrew all reference to America.

The Pentagon said it was not conducting air strikes in Syria “at this time,” formally denying the report.

“At this time, the Department of Defense is not conducting air strikes in Syria,” the Pentagon said 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.”

The air strikes followed a warning by US President Donald Trump on Sunday that there would be a “big price to pay” after medical aid groups reported dozens of people were killed by poison gas in a besieged rebel-held town in Syria.

The Syrian state denied government forces had launched any chemical attack. Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally, called the reports fake.

According to a report from the SANA early Monday, there were several dead and wounded following the strike at the air base in the central province of Homs, but an exact number was not provided.

“Several missiles hit the Tayfur airport,” SANA reported.

Syria’s air defence reportedly shot down eight missiles.

The attack follows international outrage a suspected poison gas attack that killed at least 40 in Douma, the last rebel-controlled town in an eastern suburb of Damascus.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Damascus of carrying out the attack during a call with Mr Trump on Sunday.

The statement from the Elysee Palace said Macron “strongly condemned the chemical attacks on April 7 against the population of Douma”.

It added that the two leaders shared information “confirming” the use of chemical weapons and would coordinate their efforts at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Monday.

Trump has warned there would be a “big price to pay” after Saturday’s attack, as rebels began evacuating Douma, the last sliver they held of their one-time stronghold Eastern Ghouta, under a deal with Syria’s regime.

“Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria,” Trump wrote on Twitter, lashing out at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, a key ally of the regime.

Israel has also struck inside Syria in recent years.

The Syrian government denied the allegations, calling them fabrications.

First responders entering apartments in Douma late Saturday said they found bodies collapsed on floors, some foaming at the mouth. The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense rescue organisation said the victims appeared to have suffocated. They did not identify the substance used, but Syria’s White Helmets, who act as first responders in rebel-held areas of Syria, and the Syrian American Medical Society, a medical relief organisation, said survivors treated at clinics smelled strongly of chlorine.

In a joint statement with the Syrian American Medical Society, the White Helmets said more than 500 cases were brought to medical centres “with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent”.

Those reports could not be independently verified because of a government blockade around the town.

Hours after the attack, the Army of Islam rebel group agreed to surrender the town and evacuate their fighters to rebel-held northern Syria, Syrian state media reported. The group also agreed to give up its prisoners, a key demand of the government.

The government agreed to halt its assault after three days of indiscriminate air and ground attacks.

“There’s nothing left for civilians and fighters. We don’t have anything to stand fast,” said Haitham Bakkar, an opposition activist inside the town. He spoke to the Associated Press by WhatsApp.

“People now are going out in the streets looking for their loved ones in the rubble,” Bakkar said. “And we don’t have any space left to bury them.”

More than 100 buses entered the town Sunday night to transport fighters and their families to Jarablus, a town under the shared control of rebels and Turkey, said Syrian state-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV.

The preparations follow a pattern of evacuations around the capital and other major Syrian cities as the government reasserts its control after seven years of war.

Human rights groups and United Nations officials say the tactic amounts to forced displacement, a war crime.

France, which has repeatedly said evidence of chemical use in Syria could prompt military action, responded by calling for an urgent UN Security Council meeting on Monday.

The request was also signed by eight other UN Security Council members including the US and Britain, while Russia asked for a separate Security Council meeting to discuss global threats to peace.

The latest assault on Douma came after talks between the Army of Islam and Russia collapsed Friday, ending 10 days of calm for residents trapped inside. Russia denied any involvement in the attack.

Major General Yuri Yevtushenko was quoted by Russian news agencies Sunday as saying Russia was prepared to send specialists to Douma to “confirm the fabricated nature” of the reports.

Douma has been crippled by close to five years of siege by government forces. It was once one of the hubs of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising against Assad’s government.

In recent weeks, government forces have recaptured villages and towns in the eastern Ghouta suburbs of the capital. Douma was the only town left holding out.

A 2013 chemical attack in eastern Ghouta that killed hundreds of people was widely blamed on government forces. The US threatened military action but later backed down.

Syria denies ever using chemical weapons during the war and says it eliminated its chemical arsenal under a 2013 agreement brokered by the US and Russia.

Courtesy : dailytelegraph.com.au
Photo : News.com.au

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