Trump Threatens ‘Animal Assad’, Russia, Iran After Latest Chemical Attack On Civilians In Syria

Well here we go.

It looks like the Assad regime is gassing folks again, this time in rebel-held Douma (it’s in Eastern Ghouta, just outside of Damascus), where 80 or more people were reportedly killed on Saturday.

This is apparently the latest escalation in renewed fighting between regime forces and the Army of Islam (think: Zahran Alloush, who was of course killed in 2015). A truce between the government and the group collapsed this week and heavy fighting had already left dozens dead.

Eastern Ghouta has been under siege for years and Assad, helped by the Russian military and Shiite militias loyal to Tehran, are tightening the noose (figuratively and literally).

As usual, there’s no way to “verify” whether a poison gas attack did in fact occur on Saturday but according to a joint statement by the Civil Defense and the Syrian American Medical Society, a relief organization, hundreds of people were gassed and dozens suffocated in their homes. Here’s the statement:

Washington, D.C.- Following a brief ceasefire that only lasted for a couple of days, the city of Douma, East Ghouta, was again subjected to heavy shelling that resulted in dozens of casualties and hundreds of injuries. The attacks included the systematic targeting of medical centers and civil defense teams, resulting in the  the destruction of the majority of the civil defense centers and a large number of ambulances and rescue vehicles, heavily paralyzing the medical capacity of the city.

On Saturday, April 7th, at 7:45 PM local time, amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of Douma, more than 500 cases -the majority of whom are women and children- were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent. Patients have shown signs of respiratory distress, central cyanosis, excessive oral foaming, corneal burns, and the emission of chlorine-like odor.

During clinical examination, medical staff observed bradycardia, wheezing and coarse bronchial sounds. One of the injured was declared dead on arrival. Other patients were treated with humidified oxygen and bronchodilators, after which their condition improved. In several cases involving more severe exposure to the chemical agents, medical staff put patients on a ventilator, including four children. Six casualties were reported at the center, one of whom was a woman who had convulsions and pinpoint pupils.

Civil Defense volunteers have reported more than 42 casualties found dead in their homes, with similar clinical symptoms of excessive oral foaming, cyanosis, and corneal burns. Civil Defense volunteers were unable to evacuate the bodies due to the intensity of the odor and the lack of protective equipment. The reported symptoms indicate that the victims suffocated from the exposure to toxic chemicals, most likely an organophosphate element.

Following the chemical attack, the target site and the surrounding area of the hospital receiving the injured were attacked with barrel bombs, which hindered the ability of the ambulances to reach the victims.

And yes, there are pictures. Here’s one of them:

Assad and Russia claim this is all made up. Here’s SANA:

The chemical fabrications, which did not serve the terrorists and their sponsors in Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, will not serve them today either, as the Syrian state is determined to end terrorism in every square inch of Syrian territory.

And here’s Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko, commander of the Russian Center for Syria reconciliation:

We strongly deny these claims and announce our readiness to send Russian experts in radiation, chemical and biological defense to Douma after its liberation from terrorists to gather evidence, which would prove that the allegations on the chemical weapons use were staged.

So here we go again, with Russia and Assad claiming that rebels and unidentified foreign actors are staging chemical attacks in an effort to provide an excuse for the Western powers to strike the regime.

You can bet they’ll be a full court press from the fringe blogs and the legions of online Russian propaganda outlets to make you believe the Assad regime would never use chemical weapons against its own people and that in fact, it’s NGOs and rebels conducting false flag attacks to frame ol’ Bashar who is just a good-hearted soul that wants the best for his people.

There’s no way to say this for sure, but he’s probably killed thousands of people with chemical weapons since the country’s civil war began and each and every time he does it, it’s the same goddamn thing with the Russian and Syrian propaganda which is then echoed by the same blogs and fringe “media” outlets in an effort to obscure some of the worst war crimes since World War II. It’s inexcusable (not to mention fucking disgusting) and indicative of the fact that a lot of what you read from the alt-Right is funded in one way or another by Russian interests. That’s of course not to say that Vladimir Putin is handing American bloggers envelopes of cash personally, but if you trace the backgrounds of some of these sites that promote the “false flag” Syria chemical narrative, the connections to Russian influence are clear as day.

“Reports of chemical weapons attack in rebel-held town of Douma are fabricated, and any military operations against Syria on false pretenses may lead to gravest consequences,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in statement, adding that “the goal of such reports is to aid terrorists and justify possible military strikes from outside Syria.”

Yes, “possible military strikes from outside Syria” – like the one conducted by Trump last year in retaliation for the last chemical attack conducted by the Assad regime. That would be the strike Trump told Xi about over “a big beautiful piece of chocolate cake” (even though he got the country wrong when he retold the story to Maria Bartiromo).

Trump is big on his “red lines” and this presents a rather vexing foreign policy problem during a week when he vowed to pull American troops out of Syria “very soon“. On Sunday morning, he essentially threatened Russia and Iran on Twitter:

Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018

….to pay. Open area immediately for medical help and verification. Another humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever. SICK!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018

And he was back with the “red lines” bit, which is an especially precarious position for him to take because he’s effectively backing himself into a corner where if he doesn’t act, he’s failing to do what he criticized Obama for not doing:

If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018

So we’ll see where this goes. There are a ton of possible ramifications here including the possibility that the administration will try to use this a an excuse to turn more hawkish towards Iran (having John Bolton in the mix will invariably make that eventuality more likely).

Additionally – and this is a cynical take, but it’s true – it’s worth noting that Republican voters were overwhelmingly in favor of Trump’s 2017 strike on the Assad regime, a fact he is undoubtedly aware of.