The Morning Brew: Trump condemns Syrian chemical attacks, stops short of criticizing Russia
It's Thursday, and here are your headlines:
Trump condemns Syrian chemical attacks
The United States ambassador to the United Nations held photographs of dead Syrian children and warned the U.S. could take unilateral action if the Security Council fails to respond, reported The New York Times.
Nikki R. Haley blamed Russia for blocking an adequate Security Council response to Tuesday's widely condemned chemical attacks thought to have killed more than 100 in a rebel-held province, including children.
The White House and U.K. blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime for the attack, CNN reported. Survivors told reporters they saw planes drop chemical bombs from the sky.
The United States, France and Britain have accused the Syrian government of responsibility and bitterly criticized Russia — Syria’s main ally in the six-year-old war — for objecting to a resolution they drafted condemning the attack.
Syria denied responsibility for the attacks. Russia blamed the attack on insurgents.
“Time and time again Russia uses the same false narrative to deflect attention from their allies in Damascus,” Ms. Haley said. “How many more children have to die before Russia cares?”
President Donald Trump condemned the gas attack, which left people fleeing their homes and choking and dying in the street, according to a BBC News report. "It crossed a lot of lines for me," he said.
What's not clear is if the U.S. will take action in Syria, what that would entail if so and if Trump will join Western powers in lambasting Russia for propping up the Assad regime.
He hasn't yet.
Read more about the complicated civil war in Syria.
Juliana Keeping is on the enterprise reporting team for The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com. Keeping joined the staff of The Oklahoman in 2012. Prior to that time, she worked in the Chicago media at the SouthtownStar, winning a Peter Lisagor Award... Read more ›