Theresa May vows revenge on Assad over horrific chemical attacks on children
The PM refused to rule out military action against Bashar al-Assad as she vowed to work with allies to hold the regime to account
THERESA May has vowed revenge on Syria and told of her horror at its gas attacks on children.
PM and allies were planning an “urgent” response to hold tyrant Bashar al-Assad and his backer Russia to account.
Sources said MPs may be recalled early from their Easter break to sanction airstrikes.
Tory and ex-Army captain Johnny Mercer said Mrs May should not bother asking and “get on with it”.
Writing for The Sun, the Tory MP said: “I know that the country I live in is not prepared to stand by and let a cowardly thug such as Assad murder kids with chemical weapons”
Theresa May blasted Syrian dictator Assad and his ally Vladimir Putin – vowing to hold them account for the chemical attack which killed dozens of civilians.
The PM said she would work closely with allies to hit back against the tyrant if he is proven to be behind the atrocity, refusing to rule out a military response.
And she linked the deadly attack on the Syrian town of Douma to the attempted hit on ex-spy Sergei Skripal by the Russian government, which strongly backs Bashar al-Assad.
Speaking in Denmark today, Mrs May said: “Let me say a word on the reports this weekend of a barbaric chemical weapons attack on Douma in Syria, targeting innocent civilians many of them children.
“The UK utterly condemns the use of chemical weapons in any circumstances and we must urgently establish what happened on Saturday.
“If confirmed, this is yet another example of the Assad regime’s brutality and its brazen disregard for its own people, and for its legal obligations not to use these weapons.
“If they are found to be responsible, the regime and its backers – including Russia – must be held to account.”
Asked by The Sun if she had been moved to action by heartbreaking images of the carnage from Douma, Mrs May said: “There are horrific pictures of what happened there – it is an absolutely appalling attack.”
The PM added that Assad has repeatedly flouted the global ban on using poison gas in warfare and called on Putin to control his ally.
She said: “The events in Douma fit in to a troubling wider pattern of acts of aggression and abuse of longstanding international laws on counter-proliferation and the use of chemical weapons.
“We saw a similar recklessness last month with the use of chemical weapons on the streets of Salisbury.”
It came as former Foreign Secretary William Hague said he would recommend military intervention in Syria.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “The world has succeeded for nearly a century in preventing the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield.
“Once we accept that it is just another aspect of war, that is what it will become in the conflicts of coming decades, with an arms race in chemical agents steadily expanded and legitimised.”
Boris Johnson has also spoken to his American counterpart the acting-Secretary of State John Sullivan about the situation in Syria today, a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed.
They said: “The Foreign Secretary and Acting Secretary of State agreed that, based on current media reports and reports from those on the ground, this attack bore hallmarks of previous chemical weapons attacks by the Assad regime.
Stop these evil attacks and blitz Assad's bases
By Johnny Mercer
IT was heartbreaking to see the horrific images coming out of Damascus again on Sunday morning that show in graphic detail what happens when we do nothing in Syria.
Lifeless children, foam seeping from their mouths, the victims of another barbaric chemical attack.
I tweeted with a link to photographs of the dead Syrian children: “If you’re not prepared to ever countenance military intervention abroad after Iraq, at least make yourself look at the consequences of inaction. A stain on our collective humanity that evil can continue so unabated.”
I’m ashamed that my largely Labour Party fellow parliamentarians voted against taking military action against President Assad in 2013.
I’m ashamed that while we have the means to intervene, we don’t.
“They reiterated their commitment to standing up for the Chemical Weapons Convention and to ensuring that those responsible for this horrific attack are held to account.
“They underlined the importance of the UK, the US, and France remaining in close touch.”
Tory MPs have called on Mrs May to launch bombing raids on Syria, urging her not to hold a vote in the Commons in case the response is blocked by Jeremy Corbyn.
Donald Trump threatened the Syrian leader with a “big price to pay” in the wake of the attack – while Israel apparently bombed one of Assad’s airfields overnight.
The UN Security Council held a special meeting on Syria in New York.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said his country was being “unpardonably threatened” by the UK and US.
He added: “The tone with which this is being done has gone beyond the threshold of what is acceptable, even during the Cold War.”
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Russia failed in its duty as the “guarantor of removing all the chemical weapons” from Syria.
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, blasted: “Standing by as kids are gassed isn’t pacifism, it’s tolerating evil.”
He told the BBC today: “It is absolutely right that we respond.
“We’re watching the brutal murder of civilians – not for the first time. Time and again we’ve seen chemical weapons attacks in Syria.”
Johnny Mercer suggested the PM should carry out raids on Syria without consulting Parliament.
He said: “We either stand for something or we don’t; and please let’s stop putting these things to a vote in Parliament.”
His call was backed by Paul Masterton, another Tory rising star, who called for attacks on Assad’s bases.
Labour MPs also came out in support of a military response – John Woodcock said there was “a clear case for further missile strikes against Assad’s forces”.
Mr Johnson today spoke to French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and vowed to work with allies to bring the attackers to justice.
A spokesman said: “They noted that international investigators mandated by the UN Security Council had found the Assad regime responsible for using poison gas in at least four separate attacks since 2014 and agreed that those responsible for this attack must be held to account.”
A Downing Street aide added: “We are swiftly working with our allies to agree a common position.
“If there is clear, verified evidence of the use of chemical weapons and a proposal for action where the UK will be useful then we will look at the range of options.”
In 2013, David Cameron held a vote on whether to bomb Syria in response to a previous chemical weapon atrocity – but the motion was defeated by Labour and rebel Tories.
The Government has no legal responsibility to get Parliament’s permission for military action, but that has become the normal convention in recent decades.
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood hinted Britain would join a military front against Assad, saying: “We cannot keep turning a blind eye to these barbaric and illegal atrocities.”
Last year the US launched strikes against Syrian airfields, but the UK did not take part.