Another chemical attack has happened in Syria, on Saturday morning in town of Douma. This town is a known rebel town in Syria. This is the second chemical attack within the last year. The last being a year prior in April of 2017 where at least 80 civilians were killed in Khan Sheikhoun by what was dubbed a Sarin attack. The big question remains as it has since last April, did President Bashar Al Assad gas his own people? Assad and his Russian allies deny that they had any involvement in this latest attack. The Syrian state media has accused "terrorist" media of fabricating this incident to make it difficult to advance government forces in the region. Russia also responded saying that these reports of a chemical attack have been "planted" in order to showcase a possible military intervention in Syria.
Different facts relating to those affected in this attack have been stated. One source, the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, which runs medical facilities in the Eastern Ghouta has reported that 70 deaths have been confirmed so far. Whereas the US based Syrian American Medical Society has stated that at least 48 died with symptoms that "indict exposure to a chemical agent."
How does this affect American and what should we do? Last time, last April, POTUS Trump responded with an airstrike on a Syrian air base. This time in response another air stike happened, this time hitting the Homs base in Syria. The Syrian Arab News Agency claimed Syrian air defenses had shot down 8 missiles that fired at the T-4 airbase early Monday morning local time, in an attack which killed and injured an unspecified number of people. The Pentagon has denied that strike came from the United States. They issued a statement saying: "At this time, the Department of Defense is not conducting air strikes in Syria. However, we continue to closely watch the situation and support the ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable," a Pentagon statement said.
President Trump had responded to these Syrian attacks in a couple tweets he posted on Sunday...
Russia is NOT happy about this whole situation and is threatening and warning us here in America against our potential response to the incident. They are warning against any “military intervention” in Syria over the government's alleged chemical attack against civilians saying any such response would be “unacceptable” and lead to the “most serious consequences”. With that being said, here in the United States, some politicans such as Susan Collins are calling on President Trump to ramp up the sanctions on the Russian government. Watch Collins' response to these attacks and Russia's involvement here on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper...
-Producer Lightning