US cites chemical weapons as excuse to target Syria: Experts

CAIRO - 15 April 2018: Some experts believe that the tripartite U.S.-British-French aggression against the Syrian regime aims to serve the interests of certain factions not to defend Syrian people, and that the United States cited chemical weapons as an excuse to target Syria and provoke Russia.

Advisor to Nasser Academy Mohamed Attia told Egypt Today that Syria does not have chemical weapons because if it does, launching an attack against the chemical weapons' facilities will lead to disastrous consequences due to poison gases' leak.

He further remarked that the United States cited chemical weapons as an excuse to target sensitive military bases in Syria and limit the Syrian army’s movement, just like what happened in Iraq.

Attia added that the aggression aims to provoke Russia, which supports the Syrian army, marking a declaration of war inside Syria. He further stressed that the problem in the Middle East is steadily escalating, and it should be controlled before leading to a major crisis like the one in Iraq, Libya and some Arab countries.

In the same context, Gamal Abdel-Gawad, a political science professor, told Egypt Today that the U.S. aggression against Syria has a positive impact as it will cause the Syrian factions to unite and support the Syrian regime; also, more defensive weapons will be supplied by Russia’s logistical support, which will serve the Syrian regime.

Abdel-Gawad explained that the attack serves the interests of certain factions and does not aim to defend Syrian people, confirming that the Syrian regime is not stupid to use chemical weapons, and what's happening in Syria is similar to the situation in Iraq.

He remarked that some countries attempt to break up Syria; the escalation in Syria will cause an increase of terrorist operations in the region as the fall of the regime will place Syria under the control of the armed terrorist groups, threatening the Arab security.

He added that the cold war between Russia and U.S. will continue and that Russia will not abandon Syria for military and political considerations.

U.S., British and French forces launched airstrikes in Syria early Saturday, in a coordinated intervention by western powers against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in response to a suspected poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week.

The intervention was the biggest strike by western powers against Assad in the country’s seven-year-old civil war and pitted the United States and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad.