Western powers to study options if Syria chemical weapons used again

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LONDON/BEIRUT: Western powers will study ‘options’ if Syria’s government again uses chemical weapons, but nothing is planned as yet, Britain’s foreign minister said on Sunday, after raids on Syrian targets triggered heated debate over their legality and effectiveness.

Speaking on British television, British Foreign Secretary (Minister) Boris Johnson threw his weight behind Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to take part in the attack, saying it was the right thing to do to deter further use of chemical weapons.

“There is no proposal on the table at the moment for further attacks because so far thank heavens the Assad regime have not been so foolish as to launch another chemical weapons attack,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.

“If and when such a thing were to happen, then clearly with allies we would study what the options were.”

His comments appeared in line with those of US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, who said at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that Trump told her that if Syria uses poisonous gas again, “The United States is locked and loaded.”

The Western countries said the strikes were aimed at preventing more Syrian chemical weapons attacks after a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7 killed up to 75 people.

They blame Assad’s government for the attack.

But British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the legal basis used to support the British role was debatable, adding that he would only support action backed by the United Nations Security Council.

“I say to the foreign secretary, I say to the prime minister, where is the legal basis for this?” Corbyn said.

“The legal basis … would have to be self-defence or the authority of the UN Security Council. The humanitarian intervention is a legally debatable concept at the present time,” he said in an interview with the BBC on Sunday. — Reuters