nuclear-news

Nikki Haley told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council overnight that the US couldn’t wait following Tuesday’s attack and “took a very measured step last night” with its airstrikes against the Assad government.

“We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary,” she said. “It is time for all civilized nations to stop the horrors that are taking place in Syria and demand a political solution.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the attacks were the result of a “72-hour evolution.”

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had only said days before the US air strikes that Syria was a matter for the Syrian people to decide.

Mr Trump was offered a variety of options for a US response from his Cabinet and members of his national security team, said Mr Spicer. He gave the green light on the missile strike ahead of dinner with China’s President Xi Jinping.

Dozens of innocent people were killed in the suspected chemical attack on Tuesday.

Mr Tillerson said on Thursday that the US feels confident Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government was behind the attack and that sarin gas was apparently used.

In contrast, Russia’s UN envoy has accused the US of violating international law by carrying out the military strikes in Syria. “The United States attacked the territory of sovereign Syria. We describe that attack as a flagrant violation of international law and an act of aggression,” Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov told the Security Council.

The UN meeting was called by Bolivia, which has also branded the US cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base a violation of international law.

France and Britain said the US response was “appropriate” following the deaths of 86 people, including 27 children, in a suspected chemical attack on Tuesday, and laid the blame on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As the UN Security Council meeting was going on reports indicated that the Russian Navy sent its most advanced Black Sea frigate into the Eastern Mediterranean. USNI News reports that guided missile frigate Admiral Grigorovich – based in Sevastopol, Crimea – passed through the Bosporus Strait and into the Mediterranean.

It came as the Russian military said it will help Syria beef up its air defences. At least seven soldiers were killed in the strike. Russia said President Vladimir Putin saw the missile strike as “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law”. The Kremlin claimed it has created a “serious obstacle” against forming an international coalition to fight terrorism……..

Mr Trump acted without Congressional approval………http://www.news.com.au/world/middle-east/us-missile-strike-on-syria-widely-hailed-by-world-leaders-save-for-russia/news-story/36820085601761ea254777dff2d315f5