Special bulletin about the American, British and French strikes against the Syrian regime
By Caroline Pearse & H. E.
- Airstrikes on the positions of the Syrian regime were conducted last night by three countries: United States of America, Great Britain and France.
- Among the sites targeted last night by the military operation in Syria :
- The 105 brigade of the republican guard near Damascus.
- The military airport of Al-Mazzeh in Damascus.
- The military airport of Al-Dumeir in the east of Damascus.
- The research center CERS in Barzeh in Damascus.
- The research center CERS in Jomrayah near Damascus.
- The production site and storage of chemical weapons in the province of Homs.
- Proliferation site of Masyaf in the province of Hama.
- According to Russian sources, the strikes didn’t enter the zones controlled by the Russian army. The Pentagon declared that Russia did not oppose militarily the attack.
- The research sites SSRC targeted by the strikes in Syria is a weapon production plant that produced the toxic gas used in the chemical attack on Douma.
- The Syrian regime signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2013. It didn’t prevent him though from committing several toxic gas massacres as in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017 and in Douma on April 7, 2018.
- The Syrian regime had delivered its “entire” storage of chemical weapons in 2013 and 2014 according to a Russian-American agreement. Its repetitive use of these weapons has shown that the regime keeps and re-produces an important quantity of them.
- Strikes by the three countries have targeted military airports, sites of chemical weapons production and barracks of the Syrian regime army.
- Four British Tornado fighters and four French frigates as well as Mirage and Rafale fighter jets have participated in the strikes against the Syrian regime.
- France published images of its fighter jets that participated in the strikes on Syria last night.
- Explosions were heard and seen by the inhabitants of Damascus. The smoke partly covered the city.
- The operation was conducted using close to 100 missiles among them 13 reportedly shot by the Syrian regime, according to the regime itself.
- Syrian regime air defenses used during the attacks were unable to protect the targeted sites. According to the Russian defense, Syria used old Russian antiaircraft systems to shoot the western missiles.
- The French President Emmanuel Macron: “We cannot tolerate the banalization of the use of chemical weapons (…), the attack was limited to the Syrian regime’s capacities that allow the production and the use of chemical weapons. The red line decided by France in 2017 has been crossed and France has proof the Syrian regime was responsible for the attack.”
- A press conference of the French Foreign minister, Jean-Yves le Drian, and the Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, was held this morning about the operations in Syria.
- Jean-Yves le Drian declared that the operation in Syria was legitimate, limited and proportionate.
- Florence Parly, the French Minister of Armed Forces, said that the most important research centers and two production sites of chemical weapons were targeted. She added: “We are not looking for confrontation and refuse any logic of escalation (…), the Russians were notified ahead of time”.
- Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, declared that the strikes in Syria were “a joint effort against barbarism and brutality”. She added that there was no practicable alternative to the use of force after the Russian veto to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime.
- Turkish Foreign Affairs: the American, British and French strikes in Syria are “an appropriate response”. Ankara is supporting the western strikes on the Syrian regime in response to the chemical attack.