"Russia promised to shoot down any missiles that will be launched in Syria, prepare, Russia, because they are approaching - beautiful, new and" smart "! You do not have to be partners of an animal that kills its citizens and gets pleasure from it!"
This is the tweet of US President Donald Trump, published on Wednesday morning, and this is a big step in escalating the confrontation between Russia and the West in Syria. Here is the chronology of the last days:
On the night of Sunday, as a result of the bombing of chlorine in the city of Duma near Damascus, dozens of people were killed, many of them children.
The Syrian opposition and the West blamed Bashar Assad for the chemical attack. Trump called Assad "an animal" and laid the responsibility for what had happened to his supporters of Russia and Iran.
Asad and Russia rejected the accusations. They are trying to deny that a chemical attack did take place.
On Monday, US permanent representative in the UN Nikki Haley said that the "Russian regime" hands - "in the blood of Syrian children."
On Tuesday, both the Russian and the American draft resolutions on Syria were not adopted by the UN Security Council. The Russian did not find enough support, the US was blocked by Russia.
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The US sent to the eastern Mediterranean, to the shores of Syria, a combat group of its naval forces, which includes the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman , several cruisers and other warships. The group consists of 6,500 US Navy personnel. In the Mediterranean Sea is already a destroyer "Donald Cook" , which is armed with cruise missiles "Tomahawk."
Although the US command declares that it is a matter of planned movements, few doubt that, if necessary, these ships will take part in striking a blow against Syrian military targets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOF27T3DAnM
Can air defense forces of Assad (Russian-made) resist the US missile attack? This issue was discussed a year ago, when on April 7, 2017, US military ships fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat airbase of Asad forces - in response to a chemical attack in the province of Idlib, whose victims were dozens of civilians.
At the disposal of Syrian air defense there are Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-300 and S-400. The Russian military were then warned by the United States of the impending strike about an hour before it. As an assumption why the Tomahawks were not shot down, the following versions were put forward:
Russia did not want to enter into a direct military confrontation with the United States
The air defense systems were too far from the airbase and could not effectively cover it
These complexes have never before passed a real test of the effectiveness of the fight with the Tomahawks, and the Russian military decided not to take risks
The S-400 is more suited to combat high-flying targets, rather than cruise missiles going at an altitude of 100 meters
The rocket was too much, the complexes in Syria could not be effectively intercepted.
After the American strike against Shayrat, the Russian military announced that they intend to strengthen Syria's air defense.
A few days ago, RIA-Novosti published a report with reference to a source in the Russian Defense Ministry that in recent years up to 40 anti-aircraft missile and gun complexes "Pantsir-S1" have been delivered to Syria. This system, it is believed, can effectively withstand cruise missiles.
Twitter Trump "Get Ready, Russia" in the morning of April 11, apparently, dispelled the last doubts about the seriousness of the US intentions
"Animal" Trump is not the first time to call Syrian President Bashar Assad , whom Russia supports. It is his Washington and his allies who are accused of organizing a chemical attack in Gut where, according to reports of Syrian doctors working there, as a result of the use of poisonous substances on Saturday, according to various sources , from 42 to almost 70 people were killed and hundreds of civilians were injured.
In response to Tramp's statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said : "Smart missiles should fly toward terrorists, not the legitimate government that has been fighting international terrorism for several years on its territory." And the OPCW inspectors were warned that smart the missiles will destroy all the evidence of the use of chemical weapons on the ground? Or is the whole idea to quickly cover up the traces of provocation by the strikes of smart missiles? "
The US believes that the evidence of the guilt of the Syrian regime is more than enough. According to experts from the Conflict Intelligence Team, during the years of the civil war in Syria, chemical weapons were used repeatedly - but not always with a large number of casualties. US representative to the UN Nikki Haley said, speaking in the Security Council:
" Time to appeal to conscience has passed, we have reached the moment when justice must triumph."
Last night at a meeting of the UN Security Council, the United States and Russia mutually blocked the draft resolutions proposed by both sides on Syria. (Both the permanent members of the Security Council both countries have the right of veto). Washington proposed the creation of an independent international commission that would study the circumstances of the use of chemical weapons in the Duma. Moscow, on the other hand, believes that the UN Security Council must make the final decision based on the investigation data.
The American draft resolution was supported by 12 members of the Security Council, two - Russia and Bolivia - were against, China abstained. For the Russian project there were 5 members of the Council, against - 4 (USA, Great Britain, France and Poland), 6 more abstained. Be that as it may, a special mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is sent to Syria, which wants to establish whether poisonous substances have been used in the Duma - and in what quantities.
Join the triumph of justice, which, from the American point of view, should be an operation against the Assad regime, can also France and Britain. The representative of the French president Benjamin Grivo stated in an interview with Radio Europe 1 that the use of chemical weapons, which resulted in casualties among civilians, is a "red line" for France, the crossing of which must be punished. Does not exclude the participation of his country in the operation against the Assad regime and the United Kingdom. However, according to the Times, British Prime Minister Teresa May would like to see more evidence of a chemical attack in the Duma.
The tone of Donald Trump's statements has changed over the course of the day. A belligerent twit was followed by a cautiously conciliatory:
" Our relations with Russia are worse than ever, not excluding the Cold War period, there is no reason for this: Russia needs us to help it solve economic problems, which would be very easy to do. Will we stop the arms race? "
The Russian Foreign Ministry continued the verbal "ping-pong", proposing to start with the destruction of American chemical weapons.
Meanwhile, the UN special envoy for the settlement in Syria Staffan de Mistura warned of the threat of an "uncontrolled escalation" of the conflict. According to unconfirmed reports from several media outlets, Bashar Assad and his family members with the help of Iran, another ally of the Syrian regime, were taken from Damascus to an unknown safe place. The European Agency for Air Traffic Control Eurocontrol warned airlines about the need to observe special care when flying in the eastern Mediterranean in the next three days, when it is possible to launch attacks by the United States and its allies on military facilities in Syria.
Until now, the US and Russia have avoided direct confrontation in Syria. The Russian troops there, including aviation operating in the Syrian civil war on the side of the Assad regime, are located in the western part of the country. American units, according to some sources, operate primarily in the northeast, helping the Syrian Kurds. So far, the most serious direct clash between the parties was a battle that occurred in early February in the area of ββthe city of Deir ez Zor . Then Russian mercenaries from the so-called "private military company of Wagner" attacked the positions of the Arab-Kurdish "Syrian democratic forces" and were attacked by American aviation, suffering serious losses.
Recent events already had certain side effects. So, after the tweet of President Trump about "smart missiles," the ruble rate, which fell sharply in the last two days due to new US sanctions against Russian oligarchs, collapsed almost to the ruble, exceeding the level of 65 rubles. for $ 1.
Perhaps, as a retaliatory measure, the Cossacks from the St. Petersburg society Irbis deprived Donald Trump of the title of an honorary Cossack who was granted to him shortly after his election to the presidency of the United States. "Realizing that we were mistaken, we decided to demote Trump's decision, expel it with disgrace from the organization, which was done," Rosbalt was told by the head of the society Andrei Polyakov .