A Day in Syria: April 17th 2018
By Caroline Pearse & H. E.
- Missiles targeted the airport of Al-Shayrat in the province of Homs yesterday. The military airport attacked at night had already been bombed by the United States on April 7 2017 after the chemical massacre in Khan Cheikhoun. Several other military bases and airports of the Syrian regime were also attacked by missiles.
- The Syrian regime launched surface-to-air-missiles last night against unidentified airplanes that attacked several military bases.
- The United States have denied any involvement in the last night attacks on the airport of Al-Shayrat tonight.
- Sources from the Syrian regime have accused Israel in the organisation of these attacks.
- The sites bombed by an « unidentified » aviation last night are :
- The military airport of Al-Shayrat.
- The military airport of Al-Dhumeir.
- The base of Hasyah.
- The zone of Qousseir.
- The zone of Al-Kiswah.
- An agreement was reached yesterday concerning the departure of the opposition from the zone of Al-Dhoumeir towards the north of Syria. Al-Dhoumeir is located at the east of Damascus. Further east than Eastern Ghouta.
- Several towns and villages in the province of Idlib, Hama and Homs have were bombed last night and today by the Syrian regime.
- France is undertaking procedures to strip Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad of the prestigious « Legion of Honour » medal. Al-Assad received this recognition, a medal reserved for those who have made exceptional achievements, in 2001 during a visit in France
- Ten days after the chemical attack on Douma, France’s foreign ministry has said it is “very likely” that proof has disappeared from the location of a suspected poison gas attack in Syria, adding it was essential that international inspectors be given full access to the site.
- The Belgian deputy and former Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt declared at the European Parliament that he supported without any reservation the attacks on the chemical weapons facilities in Syria. He accused the Syrian regime of being “genocidal and without any legitimacy anymore”. He added he had never agreed with Donald Trump except when he said Assad was a “monster”.
- According to the Wall Street Journal: The U.S. administration has asked Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to contribute billions of dollars in addition to troops to restore security in Syria after the defeat of Islamic State.
- Picture of the day : tunnels leading to Douma hospital. These tunnels were built by Jaych Al-Islam to move the injured people and protect the population. They were taken over by the regime last week after the inhabitants left the city.
