WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st September, 2018) Intelligence and military officers in the United States have drawn up a list of Syrian facilities that could be targeted if President Donald Trump orders a swift response to any future chemical weapons attacks in the province of Idlib, US media reported on Friday.
The final determination to launch strikes has not been made yet, but the US military could act very swiftly, CNN reported, citing multiple government officials.
Speculation about the possibility of a chemical weapons attack in Syria has grown in recent weeks after Russian officials warned of a plot to launch such an assault in order to provoke western retaliation against the Syrian government.
Earlier on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated the warning, saying that a provocation involving the use of chemical weapons is being planned in the province of Idlib.
Lavrov said Russia has evidence that such an attack is being prepared and has already transferred this proof to both the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations.�
On April 7, western media outlets reported that a chemical attack occurred in the Syrian city of Duma in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta. Western countries immediately blamed Damascus for the attack. The Syrian government denied the accusations and said that the Jaish al-Islam terror group staged the attack to encourage foreign intervention in Syria.
On April 14, the United States, the United Kingdom and France launched over 100 missiles on multiple targets in Syria in response to the alleged chemical weapons attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the strikes were carried out in violation of the norms and principles of international law.
