Some 40 previously unreported shipments were made between 2012 and 2017, the report found. Materials included acid-resistant tiles, valves and pipes.

The report – yet to be released – said N Korean missile specialists had been seen at Syrian weapon-making centres.

The allegations follow new reports of chlorine being used by Syrian forces, which the government denies.

Meanwhile, air strikes were heard in the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus as a second daily pause in fighting was due to get under way to allow in relief aid.

Activists blame government air and artillery strikes, while Russia said rebels had shelled a “humanitarian corridor” meant to let civilians leave.

What are the allegations against North Korea?

North Korea is under international sanctions over its nuclear programme.

But a confidential report, compiled by a UN Panel of Experts which assesses North Korea’s compliance with UN resolutions, found evidence of illicit supplies sent to Syria.

Seen by the BBC, the report details the “innovative evasion techniques” used by North Korea to send items such high-heat, acid-resistant tiles, corrosion-resistant valves and thermometers.

The Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) – a Syrian government agency – is alleged to have paid North Korea for the equipment via a number of front companies.

The SSRC is promoted by the Syrian government as a civilian research institute but a Western intelligence agency told the BBC last year that chemical weapons were being manufactured at three SSRC sites – Masyaf, in Hama province, and at Dummar and Barzeh, both just outside Damascus.

Barzeh was named in the UN report as one of the chemical weapons and missile facilities North Korean technicians had been seen operating at.

The Syrian government told the UN panel that the only North Koreans present in Syria are sports coaches and athletes.

Among the alleged shipments from North Korea to Syria, at least five were sent via a Chinese trading firm, Cheng Tong Trading Co Ltd, the UN report says.

The shipments allegedly contained acid-resistant tiles – which can be used for activities conducted at high temperatures – at a quantity that would cover the area of a large scale industrial project.

While the seized items “do not appear on any control lists”, they included “materials that can be used to build bricks for the interior walls of [a] chemical factory”, the report noted.

China responded to the Panel’s findings, saying it had no “evidence demonstrating the Cheng Tong Trading Co has business with” any North Korean entities in violation of Security Council resolutions.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric did not say whether the leaked report would be published, but told the New York Times: “I think the overarching message is that all member states have a duty and responsibility to abide by the sanctions that are in place.”

The UN Panel, in a publicly available report last September, said it was “investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile and conventional arms cooperation” between Syria and North Korea.

What is Syria’s position on chemical weapons?

Syria signed up to the Chemical Weapons Convention and agreed to have its declared chemical weapons stock destroyed in 2013 after a Sarin nerve agent attack killed hundreds of people in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.

It has been accused of repeatedly using banned chemical weapons in the civil war since then.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded that Sarin was used in Khan Sheikhoun, a rebel-held town in Idlib province, last April in an incident that killed more than 80 people. OPCW and UN investigators are confident the Syrian air force was to blame.

Suspected chlorine attacks have been recently reported in Syria, including on Sunday in the Eastern Ghouta.

Why is North Korea’s involvement controversial?

Experts say North Korea has long offered military supplies and weapons know-how around the world in exchange for cash.

The UN report also highlights its efforts to illicitly trade with dozens of countries and groups in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America.

Syria and North Korea have decades-old military ties.

Last week, US President Donald Trump said Washington was imposing a fresh set of sanctions on North Korea, targeting more than 50 ships and maritime transport companies in several countries.

North Korea is already under a range of international and US sanctions over its nuclear programme and missile tests.

But it continued tests last year, including tests of a nuclear weapon and a long-range ballistic missile capable of reaching the US.

The US says the new sanctions are designed to put a further squeeze on North Korea, cutting off sources of revenue and fuel for its nuclear programme and clamping down on evasion of already existing restrictions.

–

Source: BBC

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UN special envoy to Syria Jan Egeland told the BBC he understood that rebels had agreed to release government workers in exchange for the children.

Another 12 patients were evacuated on Wednesday, following four on Tuesday.

Thirteen more urgent cases are expected to be evacuated on Thursday.

News of the latest evacuations from Eastern Ghouta came in a tweet from the Syrian American Medical Society (Sams).

Update from evacuations in besieged #EastGhouta: 12 children were evacuated from the area today to receive medical care in #Damascus. Remainder of evacuations will occur tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/OgwJJLqmVq

— SAMS (@sams_usa) December 27, 2017

However, a doctor with Sams, Mohamad Katoub, told the BBC that it was hard to keep up with who urgently needed to be evacuated as people continued to die.

“The last one was a girl from the list, from the 29. This morning, when the local staff reached the family to tell them that finally the approval to evacuate your little daughter arrived, the family said that our daughter died a few days ago,” he said.

About 400,000 residents in the war-torn district have been under siege by government forces since 2013.

“Let’s hope that the agreements are good when they come,” Mr Egeland told the BBC.

“There can also be bad agreements. It is a not a good agreement if they exchange sick children for detainees that means children become bargaining chips in some tug of war. That shouldn’t happen. They have a right to the evacuation and we have an obligation to evacuate them.”

The main rebel group in Eastern Ghouta, Jaysh al-Islam, said earlier on Twitter that the government had agreed to the evacuations in exchange for the release of 29 of its prisoners.

Mr Egeland said those still in Eastern Ghouta had very little left in the way of medical facilities.

“The Syrian war has been a war against the medical profession in many ways,” he said.

“Too many hospitals have been bombed, have been hit on both sides, hundreds of doctors and nurses have been killed or wounded so what is left in Eastern Ghouta for the 400,000 civilians is not that much.”

Eastern Ghouta has been designated a “de-escalation zone” by the Syrian government’s main allies, Russia and Iran, along with Turkey, which backs the opposition.

But hostilities intensified six weeks ago when the Syrian military stepped up attacks in response to a rebel offensive, reportedly killing dozens of civilians.

There are also severe shortages of food, fuel and medicines, and the cold weather is threatening to worsen the hardship.

On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed that four critically ill people had been taken with their families to hospitals in Damascus and that it hoped a total of 29 people would be evacuated “over the coming few days”.

“The operation is clearly a positive step that will give some respite to the people in Eastern Ghouta, especially those who are in dire need of life-saving medical treatment,” spokeswoman Anastasia Isyuk told the BBC.

“We hope this medical evacuation will only be the beginning of more to come, as there are many more people in need. It is also vital for humanitarian organisations to reach people in Eastern Ghouta with aid on a regular basis and without conditions.”

Last week, Mr Egeland said 494 people were on the priority list for medical evacuations submitted in November.

He said the number was going down, not because people were being evacuated but because people were dying.

“We have tried now every single week for many months to get medical evacuations out, and food and other supplies in.”

–

Source: BBC

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It said a statement was prepared by experts after they met briefly on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam on Saturday.

There has been no official confirmation from the US about the statement so far.

The Kremlin say they also agreed there was no military solution to the conflict in Syria.

A meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin was widely expected at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit, but few details have emerged.

In total the two leaders had three encounters in the Vietnamese port city of Da Nang since late on Friday.

They met for the first time in July at the G20 summit in the German city of Hamburg.

Questions over Donald Trump’s ties to Moscow have dogged his presidency, with key former aides under investigation for alleged collaboration with Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.

While there was no official comment from the White House, a statement released by the Kremlin on Saturday said the leaders had “agreed that the conflict in Syria has no military solution”.

They also confirmed their “determination to defeat Isis [another term for IS]” and called on all parties to take part in the Geneva peace process.

According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, they also promised to maintain existing Russian-US military channels of communication to prevent “serious incidents involving the forces of partners combating IS”.

Russia has been the Syrian government’s main ally in the six-year long civil war. The US meanwhile has been backing Syrian Arab and Kurdish rebels on the ground, and since 2014 it has led a coalition carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria.

The jihadist group has been pushed out of its main strongholds in the country in recent months by a combination of offensives involving the Syrian army and the US-backed Kurdish and Arab coalition.

Mr Trump and President Putin posed side by side for a photo in custom-made blue shirts for the summit on Friday. They also shook hands as leaders sat down for talks on Saturday morning and later exchanged a few words before a “family photo” of attendees.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also met his US counterpart Rex Tillerson earlier the same day, a source from the Russian delegation told Interfax news agency. The Kremlin said the two had co-ordinated the statement on Syria especially for the meeting in Da Nang.

Questions over whether the two leaders would formally meet or not were raised after conflicting statements from the White House and the Kremlin on Friday.

–

Source: BBC

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Syrian police had been chasing three suspected car bombers that were trying to enter the capital, reports said.

Police stopped two of the vehicles, but the third driver entered Tahrir square in the east of the city and reportedly blew himself up after being surrounded.

Syria is in the midst of a six-year-long civil war, with Damascus still mostly under government control.

At least 12 people were injured in Sunday’s blast, reports said.

State TV said the attackers had planned to bomb crowded areas in the capital on the first working day after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“The terrorist bombings killed and wounded several civilians and caused physical damage to the area,” a police official told state news agency SANA.

A local resident told AFP he heard “gunfire at around 06:00 (03:00 GMT), then an explosion which smashed the glass of houses in the neighbourhood”.

No group has said it carried out the attack.

More than 300,000 people have lost their lives in the Syrian war, which began with anti-government protests in 2011.

The UN’s refugee agency says that since the conflict began about 5.5 million people have left the country, and another 6.3 million have been left internally displaced.

Damascus has remained mostly under the control of President Bashar al-Assad, and avoided much of the fighting.

However, the capital has experienced a number of suicide bomb attacks, including an attack on a court complex that killed at least 31 people in March.

–

Source: BBC

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The White House said the activities were similar to those made before a suspected chemical attack in April.

Dozens died in that attack and prompted President Donald Trump to order a strike against a Syrian air base.

The US statement warned President Bashar al-Assad of “a heavy price” if another strike occurred.

It said “another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime” was likely to result “in the mass murder of civilians”.

The statement added: “As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. If, however, Mr Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.”

President Assad has denied his forces were behind the suspected nerve gas attack in the rebel-held north-western town of Khan Sheikhoun in April.

Dozens of civilians, including many children, died.

In response, US Navy ships in the Mediterranean fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat airfield, in western Homs province, which it said was used to store chemical weapons.

The latest development comes amid increasing tension in the region between the US and President Assad’s ally, Russia.

The Kremlin recently warned the US-led coalition that it would view its aircraft as targets after the US shot down a Syrian military plane.

Syria’s six-year civil war has left more than 300,000 people dead and created more than five million refugees.

Militant Islamist groups including so-called Islamic State (IS) have used the conflict to seize swathes of land.

Warplanes from a US-led coalition are supporting an alliance of Arab and Kurdish militias as they carry out an assault on the group’s stronghold of Raqqa.

–

Source: BBC

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One day this year, as I was walking by my perpetually empty locker, I was struck by your memory. I cannot identify what sparked its conception, but as your thoughts started to grow, thinking of possible solutions and analyzing and assessing feasibility issues began to consume me. My late father called this “ripe manifestation” and it was very familiar to me. I’ve experienced it often while collaborating with my team of workers, and in the hours I’ve spent with them on design concepts of a prefabricated work on the relevance of morality to social development, still, nothing I had worked on before was similar to the feeling this “out of the box” thought had triggered.

Growing up in the early 90’s, your vaunted personality as Head of State inured to our triumphs and failures as a nation. Your factor in Ghana’s politics is remarkable to attest to your influence and importance which could never be ignored: a man whose intense energy, among both opponents and admirers, is pivotal to project the political landscape of Ghana.

But it was not until the end of your tenure as First President of the 4^th Republic, on 7^th January 2001 that your then successor, in his inaugural speech made a revealing statement: “The only legacy that [Rawlings] bequeathed to Ghana was poverty, misery and fear.” That was astonishing and repulsive! However, over the years, out of the contradictions that had emerged, some Ghanaians, if not all, have recognized your ordeal for moralism.

Your Excellency, do you know what a legacy is? Of course you do, but bear with me. Some people see a legacy as a garden where you plant seeds you may never see grow, but still contains the potentiality to grow in your lifetime. I like that expression quite a lot actually. There is a lot of fear out there in the world right now. The peaceful transition of powers and stability that have occurred in Ghana since 1992, were executed by your bated breath, as a reward for our continuous struggle for freedom and justice. You have continued to campaign for social justice for your wont of “probity and accountability” to be knitted into the moral fiber of our society. I live out of that aspiration also. Unfortunately, of late, your zest for morality in Ghana seems to be in comatose, amid all the unseemly behavior that have emanated from the beginning of this year. Several fronts of immorality and lawlessness appear to be opening each and every month.

Morality and law are co-efficient of each other. As morality is a set of guiding principles or behaviors of individuals, it is brought forth under coercion by social laws.  Right and wrong, in the context of morality, are derivative of the lapse of time and space, with the dialectics of materialism, not scientific discovery or cosmic order.

It is important we all know that the moral fiber of a society breaks down when the structures of a society breakdown. There is a breakdown of institutions in Ghana as a result of the breakdown of old structures. We can’t change a society for good with these same old institution or structures. What this means is that it is not enough for a person to continue to be good when he is not given the social support to continue – he will inadvertently lose his moral uprightness due to system weakness.  Moreover, it is not enough to say a president is not corrupt when the system in which he is operating is a “lame horse”. Corruption is a product of our social raw-materials; more so, it is not a cause but an effect of structural or system weakness.

Furthermore, I believe the recent churlish behavior by “Delta Force” in the courtroom has somehow brought dismay to you. Obviously, you should be. However, to quote Amilcar Cabral: “It is only in a fairy tale that one can cross a river on the back of a crocodile friend”. That is, no matter how bad your child does, you should try not to ignore him for someone’s child.

On top of that, it was Friedrich Engels who also said that the only lesson man learns from history is that man does not learn from history. This is not the first time, and probably not the last, that such an uncouth incidence would occur. Going back to memory lane, in 1966, Ghana recorded the worst form of hooliganism in history from a batch of servicemen, who in their loose cannons, went on a rampage to cause mayhem after their unfortunate February 24 counter-revolution. And coming down 50 years after, we have once again been predisposed to a similar maraud.

Your Excellency, to progressively move beyond these menaces, there is a need for a fundamental social change – which must affect the structures of society – not the change of political Party which constitutes a change of presidential power without necessarily changing the paradigm. The moral support that we need to ensure our social development can only come from the structures of society. For example, there are young men and women who are frustrated and cannot provide their ends meet from society and because of that, they display their aggressions on their peers. Some become criminals because of dictums of the society. And some by sheer stupidity and bravado may stow away across the Mediterranean to get drowned in droves. All these are traceable to violence entailed in not organizing society in such a way to support their well-being. Unfortunately, lack of understanding of the victims does not permit to trace it to the structure. The young men and women are victims of violence but not violent. The violent is attached to the system.

While each interest group in a society may have different ideologies, the ideal of a social revolution is to continually introduce new social systems to replace old systems to adapt to the dynamics of society – necessary to promote social development. In essence, social mobility is indispensable to social justice.

In the area of socioeconomic, once we begin to initiate policy decisions or permanent decision that will nationalize, organize and regulate our mining operations, we would be able to end illegal mining operations in Ghana. And when communalism and cooperation are re-introduced into our African social order to replace the western pathology of individualism and isolationism, issues of looming suicide among the youth would be obsolete with.

Your Excellency, your strive to implant morality as an institutional memory, in the minds of people, as your bequeathed legacy to our nation, is sustainable when there are system changes to buttress the structures of our society.

Moving forward, the lapse of time determines the potent of every harvesting season – where good harvests are taken and bad harvest are destroyed. Take hark; know that an ordeal which becomes an ideal can never be destroyed.

Yours truly,

–

Michael Sumaila Nlasia ([email protected])

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It shattered coaches and set cars on fire, leaving a trail of bodies including children, as the convoy waited in rebel territory near Aleppo.

Russian troops have reportedly moved to shield rebel evacuees from retaliation.

Thousands of evacuees from both sides of Syria’s civil war have been stuck in hostile territory since Friday.

The “Four Towns” deal brokered by Iran and Qatar was meant to relieve suffering in besieged towns – Foah and Kefraya in the north-west which are under government control, and rebel-held Madaya and Zabadani near Damascus.

Some 30,000 besieged people would be taken out but, according to AFP news agency, up to 5,000 government evacuees and 2,200 from rebel towns are now stranded.

Last month, the UN described the situation in the besieged towns as “catastrophic”. More than 64,000 civilians are “trapped in a cycle of daily violence and deprivation”, it said.

The bomb reportedly went off at Rashidin, west of Aleppo, around 15:30 local time (12:30 GMT) at the checkpoint where the handover was due to take place.

Syrian state media reported 39 deaths while other sources spoke of between 43 and 60 deaths. Hundreds of people are said to have been injured.

A suicide bomber driving a van supposedly carrying aid supplies blew it up near the coaches, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports.

Images from the scene show bodies lying on the ground outside blackened and devastated vehicles.

The complex choreography of this exchange has been attempted before on a smaller scale, reports Sebastian Usher, the BBC’s Arab affairs editor. There must now be concern over whether it can continue at all, he adds.

An AFP correspondent west of Aleppo, speaking before the explosion, said the coaches carrying government evacuees had not moved in 30 hours.

–

Source: BBC

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What is the American Exceptionalism?

American Exceptionalism in the context of nationalism is the imperial objective of the United States government after World War II and entering into the Cold War to seek global empire or superiority. The event of 9/11 attack engendered the super patriotism in the United States to reinforce their supreme powers in the world community. Prior to that, the term “American Exceptionalism” was coined by the French aristocrat – Alexis de Tocqueville, in his book “American Democracy” – in which he conceives the United States democracy as an ideal transformation of the Athenian democracy. However, a little non prejudicial look would doubt this today.

In this present day, all it took was 59 missiles launched from two U.S. Naval destroyers in a one-off strike to the Syrian airfield to pin the way the world looks at America and the West. Just like that, the chemistry has changed. American Exceptionalism is making a comeback.

The United States Foreign Policy under Obama saw somehow an apologetic means that appeared to have downgraded the power of America in the global perspective. And Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, told the world community she would be using “soft power” to achieve her goals. Regardless, the United States of America remained the global superpower, although Clinton and Obama playing the soft-card in volunteering to the world have projected a weak United States to the conservative society in America. America’s airstrike in Syria is indicative of the U.S primacy and its geostrategic desire to exercise power or influence beyond its borders to alter – to a degree that affects America’s interest – the existing geopolitical state of affairs.

What does the United States seek to achieve in Syria?

In May 2013, when Obama fell short to act on his red line – insisting that there would be serious consequences if Syria used chemical weapons – it was debunked by a United Nation’s diplomat that the Sarin gas attack was from the Rebel. When they denied this as a false flag, Obama did nothing. Now you can debate about the details of the situation on the ground in Syria – both then and now – all day long. You can go ahead and indulge in false flag talk about where the truth actually lies.

Definitely President Trump and his diehard MAGA contingent and supporters are in for the mission to unapologetically attack Assad’s regime. But to question his statement, could “there be a worldwide hell to pay”? By 1939, Hitler had already resorted to whatever way to invade Poland and to capture the Free City of Danzig – deeming it as an indisputable safeguard for the qualitative make-up of the Germany people and their economic interest. Hitler and Ribbentrop in their tact actions went on to negotiate security pact with Stalin and Molotov to thwart the possibility of Russia attacking the Reich in the out coming war with the rest of Europe.

Currently, POTUS amiable relationship with Putin has brought a high level of consternation from most Americans – considering the heightened tension between Russia and the United States following the Cold War. The current US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson has ties with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. They have been associates since Tillerson represented Exxon’s Mobil interests in Russia during President Boris Yeltsin‘s tenure. Obviously, this is checkmate at Russia as America move in to attack its strongest ally, Syria.

What could be the outcome of US military strikes in Syria?

Amid the economic sanctions imposed on Russia over the decades, although efficient and sophisticated, Russia’s military prowess is sapped to contest in the world domain. The United States is the superpower, and not the other way round, and it’s unlikely that Russia will provoke a military confrontation with a superior military force – assuming it knows U.S. threats of military forces are credible, which it presumably now knows.

This is not some all-out attack to take down the Syrian president. It was a message. Perhaps those untimely celebrations of the West’s decline should take this to heart.

–

By: Michael Sumaila Nlasia/[email protected]

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Sir Michael, writing in the Sunday Times, said the Kremlin was responsible “by proxy” as the “principal backer” of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

It comes after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson cancelled a visit to Moscow to meet his opposite number.

The attack has been widely blamed on the Syrian government.

Sir Michael said last Tuesday’s gas attack was “barbaric, immoral and illegal” and the response of air strikes from US President Donald Trump was “the right call”.

Referring to Russia, Sir Michael wrote: “This latest war crime happened on their watch.

“In the past few years, they have had every opportunity to pull levers and stop this civil war. Russia must show the resolve necessary to bring this regime to heel.”

The defence secretary said Syria needed a government in which Mr Assad played no part. He acknowledged achieving that was “not easy, but not impossible”.

“By sending Tomahawk missiles to attack the airfield, aeroplanes and equipment believed to be involved, it has sent a strong signal to the Syrian regime to think twice before using gas in future,” said Sir Michael.

“Justified and appropriate though US action was, it was also necessarily limited. We now need a long-term solution to this conflict.”

Sir Michael said Mr Assad must depart and the search for stability begin.

“Someone who uses barrel bombs and chemicals to kill his own people simply cannot be the future leader of Syria,” he stated.

‘Absurd’ decision

Mr Johnson, who called off a trip to Moscow on Monday, is attempting to co-ordinate a united response from the G7 group of industrialised nations, whose foreign ministers meet in Italy this week.

The Russian foreign ministry said Mr Johnson’s decision not to visit Russia was “absurd”.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Moscow as planned after the G7 meeting in Italy this week.

Eighty-nine people, including 33 children and 18 women, died in the suspected nerve agent attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday.

The figures come from Idlib’s opposition-run health authority. The country’s government denies using nerve gas.

On Friday, the US carried out missile strikes on a Syrian air base it says is suspected of storing chemical weapons. At least six people are reported to have died.

In response, Syria’s ally Russia accused the US of encouraging “terrorists” with unilateral actions.

Moscow has further promised to strengthen Syria’s anti-aircraft defences and it is shutting down a hotline with the US designed to avoid collisions between their air forces over the country.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has said “terrorists are celebrating” the US strikes on the air base.

But he also backed calls for an independent inquiry into the suspected chemical weapons attack.

Mr Johnson’s visit, for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, would have been the first by a UK foreign secretary in more than five years.

–

Source: BBC

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His comments echo the response from Russia, which like Iran is allied to Syria, and from Syria itself.

At least six people are reported to have been killed in the missile strikes in the early hours of Friday.

The strikes followed Wednesday’s suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, in which 89 people are reported to have died.

Syria denies using nerve gas, saying instead that its missiles struck a storage facility where rebel forces were keeping chemical weapons.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has since called off a visit to Moscow, saying the situation had changed “fundamentally” and he would work with the US in pursuit of a ceasefire.

In the Syrian capital Damascus and around the world, people protested against the air strikes, insisting there should be no US war against Syria.

In a speech broadcast on state television, Mr Rouhani said: “The man who is now in office in America claimed that he wanted to fight terrorism. But today, all the terrorists in Syria are celebrating this US attack.
“Why did you help terrorist groups and support them in your first move?”

Iran has used the term “terrorist groups” to refer to rebels, many backed by the US, who are fighting against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

But he backed calls for an independent inquiry into the suspected chemical weapons attack.

The US provides arms, training and military assistance to what it calls “moderate” Syrian rebel groups. It has led a coalition carrying out air strikes against jihadist groups in Syria since 2014 but this is the first time it has targeted government forces.

What happened in the US air strike?
Two US Navy destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat air base in western Homs province at about 04:40 Syrian time (01:40 GMT) on Friday.

They targeted aircraft, aircraft shelters, storage areas, ammunition supply bunkers and air defence systems at the Syrian government-controlled facility, according to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon said the base was used to store chemical weapons and that “every precaution” had been taken to avoid casualties. The Russian military was informed beforehand, a US military spokesman said.

Syrian state media said as many as nine civilians had been killed in the strike, four of them children. The BBC is unable to confirm this information.

What have other Syria allies said?
Like Iran, Russia accused the US of encouraging “terrorists” with its air strike.

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Vladimir Safronkov, was quoted as saying: “It’s not difficult to imagine how much the spirits of these terrorists been raised.”

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia’s response indicated “continued support for a regime that carries out these type of horrendous attacks on their own people”.

North Korea, meanwhile, called Friday’s strike “an unforgivable act of aggression” which showed its own decision to develop nuclear weapons was “the right choice a million times over”.

How does this change things between the US and Russia?
The decision to send cruise missiles against the Syrian government, which counts Russia as its most powerful ally, is a dramatic U-turn for the Trump administration.

Just last week Mr Tillerson said President Assad’s future would be “decided by the Syrian people”.

But the images coming out of Khan Sheikhoun appear to have changed all that.

“Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack,” Mr Trump said.

“It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”

–

Source: BBC

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