The White House has claimed that it has identified plans for another chemical weapons attack in Syria. It warned of drastic action should Assad use chemical weapons.
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The White House warned late Monday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could be preparing another chemical weapons attack and threatened a harsh response should he proceed.
The White House released a statement accusing Syria of conducting preparations similar to those undertaken before an April 4 chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians and prompted the US to launch a missile strike on a Syrian air base.
Who's fighting in the Syria conflict?
Syria's civil war erupted out of the Arab Spring protests that swept much of the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. The conflict has since drawn in multiple warring factions from around the world.
Image: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
War with no end
Syria has been engulfed in a devastating civil war since 2011 after Syrian President Bashar Assad lost control over large parts of the country to multiple revolutionary groups. The conflict has since drawn in foreign powers and brought misery and death to Syrians.
Image: picture alliance/abaca/A. Al-Bushy
The dictator
Syria's army, officially known as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), is loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is fighting to restore the president's rule over the entire country. The SAA has been fighting alongside a number of pro-Assad militias such as the National Defense Force and has cooperated with military advisors from Russia and Iran, which back Assad.
Turkey, which is also part of the US-led coalition against IS, has actively supported rebels opposed to Assad. It has a tense relationship with its American allies over US cooperation with Kurdish fighters, who Ankara says are linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighting in Turkey. Turkey has launched multiple military offensives targeting Kurdish militias.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/L. Pitarakis
The eastern guardian
The Kremlin has proven to be a powerful friend to Assad. Russian air power and ground troops officially joined the fight in September 2015 after years of supplying the Syrian army. Moscow has come under fire from the international community for the high number of civilian casualties during its airstrikes. However, Russia's intervention turned the tide in war in favor of Assad.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tass/M. Metzel
The western allies
A US-led coalition of more than 50 countries, including Germany, began targeting IS and other terrorist targets with airstrikes in late 2014. The anti-IS coalition has dealt major setbacks to the militant group. The US has more than a thousand special forces in the country backing the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Brandon
The rebels
The Free Syrian Army grew out of protests against the Assad regime that eventually turned violent. Along with other non-jihadist rebel groups, it seeks the ouster of President Assad and democratic elections. After suffering a number of defeats, many of its members defected to hardline militant groups. It garnered some support from the US and Turkey, but its strength has been greatly diminished.
Image: Reuters
The resistance
Fighting between Syrian Kurds and Islamists has become its own conflict. The US-led coalition against the "Islamic State" has backed the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias. The Kurdish YPG militia is the main component of the SDF. The Kurds have had a tacit understanding with Assad.
Image: Getty Images/A. Sik
The new jihadists
"Islamic State" (IS) took advantage of regional chaos to capture vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Seeking to establish its own "caliphate," IS has become infamous for its fundamentalist brand of Islam and its mass atrocities. IS is on the brink of defeat after the US and Russia led separate military campaigns against the militant group.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
The old jihadists
IS is not the only terrorist group that has ravaged Syria. A number of jihadist militant groups are fighting in the conflict, warring against various rebel factions and the Assad regime. One of the main jihadist factions is Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which controls most of Idlib province and has ties with al-Qaeda.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Nusra Front on Twitter
The Persian shadow
Iran has supported Syria, its only Arab ally, for decades. Eager to maintain its ally, Tehran has provided Damascus with strategic assistance, military training and ground troops when the conflict emerged in 2011. The Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah also supports the Assad regime, fighting alongside Iranian forces and paramilitary groups in the country.
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"The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in the statement.
"If ... Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price," he said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, added on Twitter: "Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people."
White House officials did not comment further on the situation. US-based media, including the Associated Press, LA Times and Buzzfeed, all reported that other US security agencies - such as the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies - were blindsided by the announcement. Ordinarily, the White House would coordinate before issuing such statements.
Russia and Syria respond
The Kremlin dismissed the White House's claims and criticized their threats.
Russisan President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that "such threats to Syria's legitimate leaders are unacceptable."
Peskov also criticized the Trump administration for using the phrase "another chemical weapons attack," arguing that an independent investigation into an alleged attack on April 4 was never conducted despite Russia's calls for one.
"That is why we do not think it is possible to lay the blame on the Syrian armed forces," Peskov said.
Frants Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of the defense and security committee at the upper chamber of the Russian parliament accused the US of "preparing a new attack on the positions of Syrian forces."
A Syrian minister also dismissed the allegations, saying Damascus had not and would not use such arms.
Ali Haidar, the minister for national reconciliation, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the White House statement foreshadowed a "diplomatic battle" that would be waged against Syria in the halls of the UN.
Last alleged attack in April
The White House said that the preparations being undertaken by Syria were similar to those before an alleged chemical attack on April 4.
Assad, backed by his ally Russia, strongly denied his forces were responsible for that attack against the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun, describing it as a "100 percent fabrication."
He repeatedly claimed that his forces had turned over all chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013, under a deal brokered by Russia to avoid threatened US military action. The agreement was later included in a United Nations Security Council resolution.
In response to Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons Trump ordered a cruise missile attack on a Syrian airbaseImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Sputnik/M. Voskresenskiy
But US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis previously warned that there was "no doubt" that Syria retained some of its chemical weapons. An Israeli military assessment also found that Assad's regime was still in possession of "a few tons" of chemical weapons.
After the April 4 attack Trump ordered a cruise missile strike on the airbase that the attack was allegedly flown out of. It was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Trump's most dramatic military order since becoming president three months earlier.
At the time US officials called the intervention a "one-off" intended to deter future chemical weapons attacks and not an expansion of the US role in the Syrian war.
