By Aaron Miller
The European Union’s foreign policy chief has called on Russia to bring the Syrian government to U.N.-sponsored talks.
Federica Mogherini expressed a strong desire to use a major meeting on Syria next week to drive the UN peace process following Western air strikes in the country. After a meeting of the 28 EU foreign ministers, Mogherini emphasised the need for pressure to be exercised to prevent continuous destruction.
Over 70 delegations are expected to attend the April 24-25 Syria donor conference in Brussels.
She acknowledged, however, that the challenge remained daunting. Seven years into the war, she said, “it is true that the solution to conflict seems to be even farther away than ever.”
8 p.m. The Russian military has countered the Pentagon’s account of last weekend’s strike on Syria, claiming that the U.S. and its allies tried but failed to hit more Syrian facilities than they acknowledged.
Major General. Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, said on Monday that the Western countries targeted seven additional Syrian air bases but failed to inflict any significant damage. He said Syria downed 71 out of 103 missiles launched by the U.S., Britain and France. The U.S has disputed Russia’s claim, leaving ordinary members of the public to wonder if they are being fed lies by one of the superpowers. Any government has the capability of falsifying true information or bending the truth, though Russia is more known for pushing lies and staunch denials in the face of true accounts of events. It would be wrong to assume Russia to always be lying, not in the absence of irrefutable evidence of the true state of affairs.
STRONG
The French prime minister says Western airstrikes on Syria sent a strong, clear message to dissuade Syria’s government from using chemical weapons.
Edouard Philippe told French lawmakers France’s “riposte” was “proportionate.” He says it was limited to Syrian chemical facilities to avoid harming civilians and to prevent an escalation.
He said the joint action of the U.S., Britain and France was aimed at placing a prohibitive cost on the use of chemical weapons and degrading President Bashar Assad’s ability to use them”.
At the National Assembly, Philippe said intelligence gathered by France and its allies shows the “reality” of the chemical attack in the town of Douma on April 7, which has been widely blamed on government forces. The Syrian government denies ever using chemical weapons.
Although some French opposition leaders, in tandem with British opposition leaders have criticized the strikes, both the French and British government have hailed them as successful and sending out a clear message to Syria that the strikes will not be tolerated. Syria’s ally, Russia is still planning to establish a new independent body to assess blame for chemical attacks.
Uk prime minister, Theresa May has been insistent that the strikes were in the British national interest and has attacked criticisms suggesting Britain joined the strike to fall in line with action taken by President Trump. Meanwhile, reporters from the Wall Street Journal with close access to the White House have cited sources stating that president Trump had initially preferred to conduct a more robust attack on Syria as well as on Russian targets, including Russian air defences in Syria, with the aim of crippling the regime’s military capability”.
