Nikki Haley Issues Stern Warning to Syria: 'US Locked and Loaded' if Assad Attacks Again
America’s ambassador to the United Nations unleashed a volley of truculent talk against Russia and Syria on Saturday, hours after a precision strike by U.S., British and French forces that attacked Syrian facilities used to make and store chemical weapons.
“I spoke to the president this morning and he said if the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,” Ambassador Nikki Haley said during a Security Council meeting, according to the Washington Examiner. “When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line.”
Haley’s “red line” comment was designed to contrast the Trump administration’s response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons with former President Barack Obama’s inaction after Syria used chemical weapons despite his declaration that such action would be a “red line” Syria must not cross.
— Archive: Ambassador Nikki Haley (@AmbNikkiHaley) April 14, 2018
Haley warned Syria that the United States was monitoring its every move.
“The time for talk ended last night,” Haley said, according to CNN. “We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will.”
.@USUN Ambassador Nikki Haley: "The United Kingdom, France and the United States acted to deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the Syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity." pic.twitter.com/7BADX7obJr
— Department of State (@StateDept) April 14, 2018
Haley also turned her rhetoric on Russia, saying that Russia helped set the stage for the U.S. attack by shielding Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad from an investigation of his chemical weapons program by blocking a proposed U.N. task force to probe the issue.
“Russia’s veto was the green light for the Assad regime to use these most barbaric weapons against the Syrian people in complete violation of international law,” she said. “The United States was not going to let that stand. Chemical weapons are a threat to us all. They are a unique threat — a type of weapon so evil that the international community agreed they must be banned.”
Haley ripped into Russia, claiming its support of Assad was also support for the dictator’s chemical weapons attacks. She said its efforts to mislead the world about the attacks would fail.
“We can all see that a Russia disinformation campaign is in full-force this morning. But Russia’s desperate attempts at deflection cannot change the facts,” Haley said, according to The Hill.
Russia has claimed it has proof the Tuesday chemical weapons attack that was the trigger for Friday’s U.S. strike was fake and a British provocation.
“The pictures of dead children were not fake news,” Haley said Saturday. “They were the result of the Syrian regime’s barbaric inhumanity. And they were the result of the regime and Russia’s failure to live up to their international commitments to remove all chemical weapons from Syria.”
“Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and its cover-ups,” she said, according to The Washington Post. “Russia was supposed to guarantee Assad would not use chemical weapons, and Russia did the opposite.”
Haley said that the United States has run out of patience.
.@USUN Ambassador Nikki Haley: We did not give diplomacy one chance, we gave diplomacy chance after chance. We hoped diplomacy would succeed. But six times, #Russia used its veto to block #UNSC resolutions to address chemical weapons in #Syria. pic.twitter.com/rHjaZj4Aid
— Department of State (@StateDept) April 14, 2018
Although President Donald Trump had said Friday night that the attack was a punishment and not a prelude to regime change efforts, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, disputed his claims.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russian ambassador to @UN: "The U.S. panders to the terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for 7 years leading to a wave of refugees fleeing this country in the region." pic.twitter.com/AuBEF9HUcw
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 14, 2018
“Why are you seeking to plunge the Middle East into such difficulties, provoking one conflict after another, pitting one state against another?” he said, claiming anti-Assad rebels were told prior to Friday’s strike to attack after force was used against Assad. “Is the latest wave of chaos being unleashed only for the sake of that?”
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