US Strikes Again in Syria — This Time Hitting a Coffee Shop Full of People
At
least 15 Syrians killed in US airstrike in western Raqqa
Russia Insider,
9 April, 2017
A US airstrike in western Raqqa has killed at least 15 and injured dozens, according to multiple reports.
9 April, 2017
A US airstrike in western Raqqa has killed at least 15 and injured dozens, according to multiple reports.
"The airstrike devastated an internet coffee shop in Hanedah town in western Raqqa countryside. The airstrike killed more than 20 civilians and injured dozens more," accordingto Al Masdar News.
Time to convene another emergency Security Council meeting?
Will Donald Trump now launch 60 Tomahawk missiles at the US air base in Kobani? Think of the children.
Warplanes strike Syrian town hit by chemical attack
Yahoo,
9
April, 2017
BEIRUT
(AP) — Warplanes on Saturday struck the Syrian town where a
chemical attack had killed scores of people earlier this week, as
Turkey warned that a retaliatory U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air
base would only be "cosmetic" if greater efforts are not
made to remove President Bashar Assad from power.
The
airstrikes on the opposition-held northern town of Khan Sheikhoun,
where 87 people were killed in the chemical attack earlier this week,
killed a woman and wounded her son, according to the Britain-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination
Committees, an activist collective.
Elsewhere
in Syria, U.S.-led airstrikes killed at least 21 people, including a
woman and her six children who were fleeing on a boat across the
Euphrates River near the Islamic State group's self-styled capital,
Raqqa, the target of a major offensive by U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led
Syrian forces, activists said.
An
airstrike on a rebel-held town in the northern Idlib province killed
at least 18 people, including women and children, according to the
Observatory and Ariha Today, an activist group. It was not
immediately clear who carried out the strike.
Near
the central city of Homs, a bomb exploded aboard a bus carrying
workers, killing a woman and wounding more than 20, according to
state TV and the Observatory.
The
chemical attack prompted the U.S. to launch nearly 60 Tomahawk
missiles on a Syrian air base early Friday, which killed nine people
and marked the first time Washington has directly targeted Syrian
government forces since the war began in 2011.
The
move was welcomed by the Syrian opposition and its main backers,
including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but harshly condemned by Russia
and Iran, who back Assad and said striking his forces would
complicate the struggle against extremist groups.
Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the U.S. strike should be the
start of a renewed effort to end the civil war, which has killed an
estimated 400,000 people and displaced half of Syria's population.
"If
this intervention is limited only to an air base, if it does not
continue and if we don't remove the regime from heading Syria, then
this would remain a cosmetic intervention," he said.
He
said the best outcome would be a peace agreement that leads to a
transitional government accepted by all Syrians, followed by
elections in which all Syrians, including those living abroad, could
vote for new leadership. For that to happen, he said, "this
oppressive Assad needs to go."
Iran,
which has provided crucial military and political support to Assad,
meanwhile called for a fact-finding mission to determine what caused
the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun. State television quoted
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as saying the committee should be
impartial and "must not be headed by Americans."
Rouhani
said "neutral countries should come and assess to make it clear
where the chemical weapons came from."
Syria's
government has denied carrying out any chemical attack, and Russia's
Defense Ministry said the toxic agents were released when a Syrian
airstrike hit a rebel chemical weapons arsenal and munitions factory.
British
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson canceled a planned trip to Russia
because of fast-moving events in Syria. Johnson said the situation in
Syria has changed "fundamentally" following the chemical
attack and the U.S. response.
Johnson
condemned Russia's continued defense of Assad "even after the
chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians."
He
had planned to travel to Russia Monday on a trip intended to start a
fresh dialogue with Moscow.
U.S.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meanwhile plans to meet with G-7
foreign ministers in Europe next week before going on to Moscow.
Johnson said Tillerson will be able to give a "clear and
coordinated message to the Russians."
In
Damascus, dozens of Syrian students gathered outside the offices of
the United Nations to protest the U.S. missile attack, chanting
"Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
University
student Ashraf Fadel said he came to denounce "the unjust
American aggression against Syria." He added that the United
Nations was "created to support America instead of serving the
wronged people."
In
a separate development, activists opposed to the Islamic State group
said a U.S.-led coalition airstrike hit a boat carrying civilians
fleeing across the Euphrates River. The groups Raqqa is Being
Slaughtered Silently and Sound and Picture said the attack killed a
woman and her six children. The attack occurred in the Shuaib
al-Zeker area, near where U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have been
battling IS under the cover of coalition airstrikes.
Activists
and state media said a separate airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition
on the northern IS-held village of Hneida killed at least 14
civilians, including children. The Observatory said 15 people,
including four children, were killed in the airstrike. The Sound and
Picture group said the airstrike hit an internet cafe, killing 14
people.
In
Saudi Arabia, the official Saudi Press Agency reported that U.S.
President Donald Trump has spoken by telephone with King Salman about
the U.S. missile strike on Syria.
The
news agency reported that during the Friday phone call, the Saudi
monarch congratulated Trump for his "courageous decision."
Saudi
Arabia said the missile launch was the right response to "the
crimes of this regime to its people in light of the failure of the
international community to stop it."
The
kingdom is among the most vehement opponents of Assad and supports
Sunni rebel groups fighting to oust him. The Sunni rulers of Saudi
Arabia are in a power struggle for regional dominance with Iran's
Shiite government.
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