articles.json

[
 {
   "Title": "U.S. and allies warn Syria of more missile strikes if chemical attacks used again",
   "Source": "Washington Post",
   "Date": "4/21/2018",
   "Content": "Western allies warned Syria on Saturday that they could launch further attacks if chemical weapons are used again, even as Syria’s powerful backer Russia denounced the missile strikes but gave no signs of possible retaliation.The flurry of statements after Friday’s coordinated strike of U.S. cruise missiles — along with launches from French and British forces — suggested a tense holding pattern.The United States and its allies served notice to Bashar al-Assad’s regime that there was Western resolve to halt any further chemical attacks against civilians. Russia, meanwhile, said it did not mobilize its air defenses in Syria but underscored the importance of its military foothold in Syria and its role as Assad’s main protector.For the moment, there were no signs that the worse fears would take shape: that the U.S.-led attack could put the United States and Russia in direct conflict.Still, the extent of the blow to Assad’s regime remained unclear.Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S., French and British forces struck three sites: a scientific research center near Damascus, a suspected chemical weapons storage facility near Homs and a storage facility and command post also near Homs.But plans for the Western attack has been building for nearly a week, since a suspected chemical attack last Saturday on a rebel-held enclave east of Damascus. That offered Syria time to possibly move equipment and stockpiles.On Saturday, France’s foreign minister echoed earlier threats from Washington that any further use of chemical agents by Syrian forces would bring more Western strikes.Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday’s attacks knocked out a “good part” of the Syrian government’s chemical weapons arsenal. He told BFM television that the immediate goal was achieved by the United States and others, but that another attack could come if the “red line is crossed again.”In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials swiftly condemned the attack as international aggression but said no Russians were injured.The Russian Defense Ministry reported that its forces did not mobilize its air defenses — giving further signals that the attack would not open up a wider crisis between the two former Cold War foes.Russia further claimed that Syrian forces used older Soviet-made air defense systems to intercept incoming missiles. The Pentagon has given no immediate assessment on whether any missiles were taken down by air defenses.In Syria, the Foreign Ministry described the missile strikes as “barbaric aggression.” Assad’s Twitter account showed a video of him walking calmly through marble corridors toward his office. Syria’s military claimed the attacks destroyed an educational center and research labs.Hours earlier, civilians and soldiers gathered in Ummayad Square in Damascus for a show of support, waving Syrian flags and dancing to songs that praised the army.In Tehran, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the attack a “crime” but gave no indication of any planned Iranian response. Iran and its main proxy force in the region, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, are both key allies of Syria.The coordinated strike marked the second time in a little over a year that President Trump has used force against Assad, who U.S. officials believe has continued to test the West’s willingness to accept gruesome chemical attacks. Trump, speaking from the White House late Friday, said the attack last weekend was “a significant escalation” of Assad’s use of chemical weapons and warranted a stepped-up international response.The alleged chemical weapons use was not the work of “a man,” Trump said. It was “the crimes of a monster instead.”Trump said the mandate for an allied attack was open-ended, but Pentagon chiefs later said the strikes Friday would be repeated only if Assad took further action that warranted a response.The attack involved munitions fired from aircraft and naval vessels, including about 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles, according to a Defense Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. The Pentagon also employed the B-1 strategic bomber.The assault came despite the lack of a definitive independent finding that chemical weapons were used or who had deployed them. An initial team of inspectors had only arrived in Syria on Friday.Defense Secretary Jim Mattis declined to say whether he thought the attack would prevent Assad from using chemical weapons again.“Nothing is certain in these kinds of matters. However, we used a little over double the number of weapons this year than we used last year,” he said. “It was done on targets that we believed were selected to hurt the chemical weapons program. We confined it to the chemical weapons-type targets.”Mattis said that to his knowledge there were no U.S. or allied losses from the strikes Friday.Dunford said the only communications that took place between the United States and Russia before the operation were “the normal deconfliction of the airspace, the procedures that are in place for all of our operations in Syria.”On Friday, the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, warned that “such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the airstrikes represented the latest blow to the Syrian people “from those who claim to have moral leadership in this world.”Russia seemed keen, however, to keep military tensions from escalating further. The Defense Ministry said that Russian air defense systems were not used to ward off the strike because the attacking cruise missiles did not enter the Russian systems’ “zone of responsibility” in the skies above Syria. The Russian Embassy in Damascus said it was not aware of any Russian casualties, Interfax reported.British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement saying the attacks were a response to “circumstances of pure horror.”The European Union voiced support for the allies. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted, “The E.U. will stand with our allies on the side of justice.”In the wake of last weekend’s gruesome attack, some U.S. officials advocated a larger, and therefore riskier, strike than the limited action Trump ordered in April 2017, also in response to suspected chemical weapons use.That attack involved 59 Tomahawk missiles fired from two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea. It fulfilled Trump’s vow that chemical weapons are a “red line” that he, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, would not allow Assad to cross. But the airfield targeted by the Pentagon resumed operations shortly after the attack and, according to Western intelligence assessments, chemical attacks resumed.Risks of the renewed attack include the possibility of a dangerous escalation with Russia, whose decision to send its military to Syria in 2015 reversed the course of the war in Assad’s favor. Since then, Russia has used Syria as a testing ground for some of its most sophisticated weaponry.Since last year’s strike, multiple chemical attacks have been reported in opposition areas, most of them involving chlorine rather than the nerve agent sarin, as was used in 2017, suggesting the government may have adjusted its tactics.Russia’s military had threatened to shoot down any U.S. missiles that put Russian lives at risk. Russia could also fire at the launch platforms used — potentially U.S. planes or ships. Russian officials had said U.S. and Russian military staffs remained in contact regarding Syria, even as Russian media carried stories in recent days about the potential outbreak of “World War III” as a consequence of a U.S. airstrike against Assad. China’s Foreign Ministry said it opposed the use of force, urged negotiation and called for a “comprehensive, impartial and objective” investigation into the allegation that chemical weapons were used.In an editorial, the China Daily newspaper warned the situation in the Middle East risked spiraling out of control.“Syria has become the nexus for regional power plays and the arena for a shadow war between the West and Russia that portend even worse is to come if all involved do not exercise restraint and instead allow the current hostilities to escalate.”"
 },
 {
   "Title": "'WORLD WAR 3' GOOGLE SEARCHES SPIKE AFTER TRUMP LAUNCHES SYRIA MISSILE STRIKE",
   "Source": "Newsweek",
   "Date": "4/16/2018",
   "Content": "Google searches for the phrase “World War 3” spiked as President Donald Trump authorized missile strikes on Syria in response to yet another deadly chemical attack on civilians in the wartorn country.U.S. allies U.K. and France joined the strikes on what the coalition said were chemical weapons facilities belonging to the Bashar al-Assad regime. The strikes took place in the early hours of Saturday morning (April 14), Syria time, and were designed to punish and deter the use of banned weapons.Russia, which is backing the Syrian regime with troops on the ground, told the U.N. it is being “threatened” and warned the U.S. and its allies of “consequences” for striking Syria.The last time Google searches for World War 3 spiked dramatically was when Trump ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airfield used to launch the Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack, which killed dozens of civilians in April 2017. The U.N. blames Syria’s Assad regime for the Khan Sheikhoun attack.On April 7, 2018, reports emerged from the city of Douma, northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus, of a chemical attack. Distressing images and video from the aftermath show dead bodies, including those of children, foaming at the mouth.The World Health Organization said its partners in the area reported around 500 people presenting themselves to medical facilities and displaying symptoms of exposure to toxic chemicals. A further 43 people who had died in the shelling showed similar signs.“A perfectly executed strike last night,” Trump tweeted on Saturday morning. “Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine military. Could not have had a better result. Mission accomplished!”Attacking Syria risks hitting the Russian military because of its large presence in the country and triggering an escalation that, in the worst case scenario, leads to a direct conflict between Russia and the U.S., the world’s two most heavily armed nuclear powers.Forces loyal to Syrian President Assad evacuated their bases and airfields in anticipation of any strike ordered by Trump. Efforts were also made to give Russia notice of the strikes.French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly said after the strikes that the allies “are not looking for a confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation. That is why, with our allies, we ensured that the Russians were notified ahead of time.\"A “deconfliction hotline” between the American and Russian governments is also in operation. It allows them to stay in direct contact if needs be to prevent any situation spiralling out of control.“The line is used and it is active,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a media briefing ahead of the strikes. “In general the line is used by both sides.”"
 },
 {
   "Title": "Trump defends 'mission accomplished' tweet",
   "Source": "CNN",
   "Date": "4/15/2018",
   "Content": "President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his use of the term \"mission accomplished\" to describe Friday night's missile strike in Syria.\"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,'\" he tweeted Sunday morning. \"I knew they would seize on this but felt it is such a great Military term, it should be brought back. Use often!\"On Saturday, Trump celebrated the success of the strike on three targets in Syria in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack on civilians in a Damascus suburb. The strike was conducted in coordination with the United Kingdom and France.\"A perfectly executed strike last night,\" Trump tweeted Saturday. \"Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!\"Republican President George W. Bush famously stood in front of a banner emblazoned with the phrase \"Mission Accomplished\" as he spoke aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, to mark the end of \"major combat operations\" in Iraq after just over a month of fighting.The war in Iraq dragged on for years to come, American casualties piled up, and the \"Mission Accomplished\" banner became a punch line.On CNN's \"State of the Union\" Sunday morning, Maine Independent Sen. Angus King said \"it's impossible to say at this point\" whether the United States' mission in Syria has been accomplished.\"I think it's very difficult to say 'mission accomplished' if the mission is to deter the use of chemical weapons,\" he said. \"We hope that will be the case, but we did a strike a year ago for that same purpose and it was deemed a success, but the chemical weapons have continued to be used.\"Democratic lawmakers also called out Trump after he announced the strike for not going to Congress for approval of the military action.\"The President must come to Congress and secure an Authorization for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians,\" House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said in a statement Friday night.Trump said Friday that the US is \"prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.\"The Pentagon repeated Saturday that the President has the authority under the Constitution to defend US interests, but what happens next is up to the Assad regime and Russia."
 },
 {
   "Title": "Trump tells Russia to 'get ready' for US missile attack on Syria after Kremlin warning: 'They will be coming'",
   "Source": "The Independent",
   "Date": "4/11/2018",
   "Content": "Donald Trump has hit out at Russia after Moscow threatened to shoot down any missiles fired at Syria in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack.On Twitter, the US president told Russia to \"get ready\", saying: \"They will be coming, nice and new and 'smart'!\"Referring to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, he added: \"You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!\"Though he failed to detail what a strike would look like, or whether they would be US missiles, Mr Trump's apparent confirmation that military action will be taken came after Russian lawmakers warned Moscow would view American air strikes on Syria as a war crime.Mr Trump's outburst appeared to be a response to Russia's ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, who said US launch sites as well as missiles would be targeted in the event of an attack.\"If there is a strike by the Americans then... the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired,\" Mr Zasypkin told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV on Tuesday evening.The US president has previously threatened military action in response to Syria's suspected poison gas attack, which activists and rescuers say killed at least 40 people.The Syrian government and its Russian backer deny the attack took place.Responding to Mr Trump's tweet, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Facebook: \"Smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, and not towards the lawful government which has been fighting international terrorism on its territory for several years.\"She added a US missile strike could be an attempt to destroy evidence of the alleged chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma, near Damascus.Mr Trump later sent a follow up tweet in which he described the US-Russia relationship as \"worse now than it has ever been\".\"There is no reason for this,\" he wrote. \"Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?\"The tweets came as Trump administration officials consult with global allies over a possible joint military response to Syria's alleged poison gas attack.The White House announced on Tuesday Mr Trump would skip an upcoming summit in South America and instead remain in the US to \"oversee the American response to Syria”. The US, France and Britain have been in extensive consultations about launching a military strike as early as the end of this week, US officials said. None of the three countries' leaders had made a firm decision, according to the officials, who were not authorised to discuss military planning publicly. A joint military operation, possibly with France rather than the US in the lead, could send a message of international unity about enforcing the prohibitions on chemical weapons and counter Syria's political and military support from Russia and Iran.Emmanuel Macron said France, the US and Britain will decide how to respond in the coming days. He called for a \"strong and joint response\" to the attack in Douma on Saturday, which Syrian activists and rescuers say killed 40 people.The French president does not need parliamentary permission to launch a military operation. France is already involved in the US-led coalition created in 2014 to fight Isis in Syria and Iraq.On Monday Mr Trump suggested he had little doubt that Syrian government forces were to blame for what he said was a chemical attack, but neither he nor other administration officials have produced hard evidence.Officials suggested such evidence was lacking, or at least not yet at hand. This is in contrast to an incident one year ago in which US intelligence agencies had video and other evidence of certain aspects of the actual attack, which involved the use of sarin gas.Mr Trump responded by launching Navy cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield.One official said the US, France and Britain were considering military options that would be more extensive than the punitive, one-day strike last April.That strike did not appear to have had the desired effect of deterring Mr Assad from further use of chemical agents. So the three countries are discussing a range of options, including preventing the Syrian president from conducting future attacks by striking military capabilities involved in carrying out such attack, the official said.Asked whether France would take military action, Mr Macron said his country will continue discussing technical and strategic information with US and British allies and \"in the coming days we will announce our decision.\" He said any action would \"target chemical weapons\" stocks. Under a 2013 agreement for which Russia was a guarantor, Syria was to have eliminated all its chemical weapons, but it has used chlorine and perhaps other chemicals since then.After Mr Trump spoke by phone with Theresa May, a government statement said the two agreed the attack in Syria was \"utterly reprehensible\" and that the international community must respond \"to uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons.\"Mr Trump met at the White House with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who told reporters that he and Trump \"see eye to eye\" on the Syria problem.\"We cannot tolerate with a war criminal,\" the emir said, adding, \"This matter should end immediately.\" Qatar hosts America's main air operations centre for the Middle East, which would coordinate any American air attack in Syria.A watchdog agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, announced that it will send \"shortly\" a fact-finding mission to Douma, after receiving a request from the Syrian government and its Russian backers to investigate the allegations. It was not immediately clear whether that visit would delay or avert US or allied military action.The Russian military, which has troops in Syria, said on Monday that its officers had visited the site of the alleged attack and found no evidence to back up reports of poison gas being used."
 },
 {
   "Title": "Trump orders Syria strikes: Will attacks lead to US war with Russia?",
   "Source": "Fox News",
   "Date": "4/13/2018",
   "Content": "After President Trump’s Friday night announcement that U.S., French and British military forces have launched missile strikes against Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities in response to that nation’s recent deadly attack on its own citizens with poison gas, the world wonders: Will the American action spark a war between the U.S. and Russia?CIA Director Mike Pompeo pointed out Thursday that the U.S. has already killed a large number of Russians in Syria. “A handful of weeks ago, the Russians met their match,” Pompeo said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to become secretary of state. “A couple hundred Russians were killed.”Pompeo’s comments are apparently the first public on-the-record confirmation by an American official that Russians died in a U.S. air strike in February on pro-Syrian government forces in Deir al-Zour province. Members of the Russian military and Russian civilians are in Syria propping up the regime of dictator Bashar Assad.Though there are plenty of questions regarding what comes next in Syria, there are few answers. The questions include:Will the U.S. bombing campaign against Syria continue? For how long?What does President Trump hope to accomplish with the attack he ordered?Will Russia shoot down – or at least attempt to shoot down – U.S. cruise missiles if there are new U.S. attacks into Syria?How would the U.S. respond if our missiles are downed by Russia?What would happen if U.S. missiles accidently killed any additional Russian civilians and members of the Russian military in Syria supporting the Assad regime?Will Russian President Vladimir Putin order a counterattack against U.S. ships or aircraft conducting strikes against Syria?Will U.S. and Russian ground forces in Syria go into battle against each other?What happens if members of the U.S. military are killed in a Russian attack?Hopefully, none of these things will happen. It would make sense for U.S. forces to give Russia a heads-up on possible targets and what we might be attacking to avoid killing more Russians. Our forces would lose the element of surprise in an attack, but they’d lessen the chances of starting a U.S.-Russia war that in the worst-case scenario could turn into World War III.There is also the possibility that Russia will not respond at all to the U.S. attack on Syria, knowing that – at least in the Middle East – Russian forces would be soundly defeated by U.S. forces in any long-term conflict, while losing their position in Syria and in the region more broadly.But the game of geopolitics is not for the faint of heart. And who says Putin would fight fair?What if Russia decided to respond to more Russian deaths in Syria with aggression in a different part of the world, like in the Baltics?While it seems unlikely, this is certainly possible. And in fact, this is what happened in a “wargame” – a simulated military conflict – that I was involved in as part of my duties working at a Washington think tank.The results of the simulation, sadly, were tragic: a fictional nuclear war was unleashed.While I support President Trump’s action in Syria, I pray that the real civilian and military leaders of our nation and of Russia would be more careful and avoid going nuclear.Roughly two years ago, a group of national security experts gathered just outside of our nation’s capital for the massive wargame. In the simulation, Russia had decided to respond to growing tensions with the West by invading the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.This could only mean one thing: a war between NATO and Russia was now in the offing."
 },
 {
   "Title": "Syria war: Trump says missiles 'will be coming'",
   "Source": "BBC",
   "Date": "4/11/2018",
   "Content": "US President Donald Trump has tweeted that Russia should \"get ready\" for missiles to be fired at its ally Syria, in response to an alleged chemical attack near Damascus on Saturday.\"Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'\" Mr Trump said in his tweet.Senior Russian figures have threatened to meet any US strikes with a response.President Bashar al-Assad's government denies mounting a chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.In one of his tweets on Wednesday, Mr Trump called the Syrian leader a \"gas killing animal\".In another, he painted a dark picture of US-Russia relations but said it did not have to be that way.The US, UK and France have agreed to work together and are believed to be preparing for a military strike in response to the alleged chemical attack at the weekend.On Tuesday, Mr Trump cancelled his first official trip to Latin America so he could focus on Syria.That decision suggests the US response may involve a larger military operation than a limited strike, says the BBC's Barbara Plett Usher in Washington.But following President Trump's early morning tweets on Wednesday, other administration figures struck a more circumspect note.Defence Secretary James Mattis said the US was still assessing the chemical attack and that the US military stood ready \"to provide military options if they are appropriate as the president determines\".White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said a final decision had not been made, and \"all options remain on the table\".French President Emmanuel Macron said any strikes would target \"the regime's chemical capabilities\".In the UK, sources told the BBC that Prime Minister Theresa May looked ready to join military action in Syria without seeking parliamentary consent first.A US Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean Sea.There are reports that Russian battleships have left the country's naval base in the Syrian port city of Tartus.Opposition activists and rescuers say government aircraft dropped bombs filled with toxic chemicals on the town, the last major rebel stronghold near the capital Damascus.On Wednesday, the UN's World Health Organization demanded access to verify reports from its partners, which include Sams, that 70 people had died - including 43 who showed \"symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals\".A team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is due to deploy to Syria \"shortly\" to determine whether banned weapons were used.Douma was under renewed assault from Syrian and Russian forces last week.Rebels have now been evacuating the town under an agreement involving the Russian military.What is Russia's position?It has described the reports of the chemical attack as a \"provocation\" designed to justify Western intervention against its ally.It said on Wednesday that samples taken from the site had not revealed any chemical substances.Senior Russian figures have warned of a Russian response to a US attack. On Wednesday Alexander Zasypkin, Moscow's ambassador to Lebanon, repeated a warning by the head of the military that missiles would be shot down and their launch sites targeted if they threatened the lives of Russian personnel.Also on Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asked whether the aim of Western strikes might be \"to quickly remove the traces of the provocation... [so] international inspectors will have nothing to look for in terms of evidence\".Addressing new ambassadors in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said he hoped common sense would prevail and that the situation would stabilise.Mr Putin said Russia would \"keep all its international obligations in full\"."
 }
]