UK to work with US, France on Douma response

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON

The U.K. will continue its cooperation with the US and France to coordinate a response to the suspected chemical attack which killed nearly 80 people, a British government statement said Thursday.

The statement came following a Cabinet meeting summoned by Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss the options of a response to the Assad regime, which is believed to be behind last Saturday’s deadly attack.

"This afternoon Cabinet met and received an update on the attack against innocent civilians in Douma, Syria, on Saturday,” the statement said.

"The Prime Minister said it was a shocking and barbaric act which killed up to 75 people, including children, in the most appalling and inhumane way,” it said.

The statement added that the Cabinet members “agreed that the Assad regime has a track record of the use of chemical weapons and it is highly likely that the regime is responsible for Saturday's attack.”

"The Prime Minister said it was a further example of the erosion of international law in relation to the use of chemical weapons, which was deeply concerning to us all,” it said.

The Cabinet also “agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged.”

"Cabinet agreed on the need to take action to alleviate humanitarian distress and to deter the further use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime,” it warned.

“Prime Minister should continue to work with allies in the United States and France to coordinate an international response," the meeting also concluded, according to the statement.

Phone diplomacy in wake of attack

The leaders of Britain, the U.S. and France agree that the international community needs “to respond to uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons,” the British government earlier this week said.

The agreement came during separate talks on the phone between Prime Minister Theresa May, U.S. President Donald Trump, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The leaders “agreed that reports of a chemical weapons attack in Syria were utterly reprehensible and if confirmed, represented further evidence of the Assad regime’s appalling cruelty against its own people and total disregard for its legal obligations not to use these weapons,” the statement said.

“They [May, Trump and Macron] agreed that the international community needed to respond to uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons,” it said.

Assad regime forces struck targets in the Damascus suburb’s Douma district on Saturday midnight using a poisonous gas, leaving at least 78 civilians dead, according to the White Helmets.

On Feb. 24, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2401 which called for a month-long cease-fire in Syria, especially in Eastern Ghouta to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Despite the resolution, the regime and its allies early this month launched a major ground offensive backed by Russian air power aimed at capturing opposition-held parts of Eastern Ghouta.

Home to some 400,000 people, the suburb has remained the target of a crippling regime siege for the last five years.

Earlier this month, a UN commission of inquiry released a report accusing the regime of committing war crimes in Eastern Ghouta, including the use of chemical weapons against civilians.