Russia warns any U.S. missiles fired at
Syria will be shot down
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[April 11, 2018]
By Tom Perry and Dahlia Nehme
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia has warned that
any U.S. missiles fired at Syria over a suspected chemical weapons
attack on a rebel enclave would be shot down and the launch sites
targeted, raising the possibility of a U.S.-Russian confrontation.
Issuing the warning on Tuesday evening, the Russian ambassador to
Lebanon also said such a clash should be avoided and Moscow was ready
for negotiations. But his remarks could raise fears of direct conflict
for the first time between major powers backing opposing sides in
Syria's protracted civil war.
Moscow and Washington sparred at the United Nations on Tuesday over the
use of chemical weapons in Syria as Washington and its allies considered
whether to strike at Syrian government forces over the alleged poison
gas assault.
At least 60 people were killed in Saturday's suspected chemical weapons
attack on the town of Douma, Syrian relief workers said. An estimated
500 people were being treated for "symptoms consistent with exposure to
toxic chemicals", the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The Syrian government and Russia say the reports are bogus. The Kremlin
said on Wednesday it hoped all sides involved in Syria would avoid doing
anything that could destabilize an already fragile situation in the
Middle East, and made clear it strongly opposed any U.S. strike on its
ally.
After the attack, the rebel group holed up in Douma - Jaish al-Islam -
finally agreed to withdraw from the town. That sealed a big victory for
President Bashar al-Assad, who has now crushed the rebellion in the
eastern Ghouta region near Damascus.
On the diplomatic front, Moscow and Washington stymied attempts by each
other in the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to set up international
investigations into chemical weapons attacks in Syria. [
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday canceled a planned trip to Latin
America later this week to focus instead on talks with Western allies
about possible military action to punish Assad for the suspected gas
attack on a rebel-held town that had long withstood a devastating Syrian
government siege.
Trump had on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response once
responsibility for the attack was established.
"If there is a strike by the Americans, then ... the missiles will be
downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired,"
Alexander Zasypkin, the Russian ambassador in Beirut, told Hezbollah's
al-Manar TV, speaking in Arabic.
He said he was referring to a statement by Russian President Vladimir
Putin and the Russian armed forces chief of staff.
The Russian military said on March 13 that it would respond to any U.S.
strike on Syria by targeting any missiles and launchers involved. Russia
is Assad's most powerful ally and its devastating air power has helped
him wrest back large swathes of territory from rebels since 2015.

Zasypkin also said a clash between Russia and the United States over
Syria "should be ruled out and therefore we are ready to hold
negotiations".
Earlier in the week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov
said there was no threat of the situation in Syria spiraling into
U.S.-Russian hostilities. TASS news agency quoted him as saying he
believed common sense would prevail.
MISSILE SALVO FROM MEDITERRANEAN?
Any U.S. strike is likely to involve the navy, given the risk to
aircraft from Russian and Syrian air defense systems. A U.S. Navy
guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean.
With tensions mounting, pan-European air traffic control agency
Eurocontrol warned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern
Mediterranean due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria over
the next 72 hours.
Eurocontrol said that air-to-ground and cruise missiles could be used
within that period and there could be intermittent disruptions of radio
navigation equipment.
Both Russia and Iran, Assad's other main ally, have warned his enemies
against military action in recent days, underlining their commitment to
the Syrian government they have armed and supported through years of
conflict.
Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, said during a visit to Damascus on Tuesday that an Israeli
attack on an air base in Syria earlier this week would "not remain
without response".
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A man walks with his bicycle at a damaged site in the besieged town
of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria March 30, 2018.
REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

RISK OF "UNCONTROLLABLE ESCALATION"
On Monday, U.N. Syria peace envoy Staffan de Mistura cited the air
base strike along with other recent events in Syria in a briefing to
the Security Council, cautioning against a "situation of
uncontrollable escalation".
Syria's Russian-supplied air defenses shot down an Israeli F-16 jet
in February during a previous bombing run against what Israel
described as Iranian-backed positions in Syria.
Last year, the United States carried out strikes from two Navy
destroyers against a Syrian air base after another toxic gas attack
on a rebel-controlled pocket.
The U.S. and Russian militaries have sought to avoid conflict in
Syria, notably last year in the Euphrates River Valley where they
supported rival sides in the campaign against Islamic State
militants.
However, U.S. forces in February killed or injured hundreds of
Russian contractors fighting on Assad's side during a confrontation
in Deir al-Zor province.
U.S. officials said last month pro-Syrian government forces
including Russian mercenaries massed near U.S. and U.S.-backed
forces in the same region, but a potential confrontation was defused
after the U.S. military contacted Russian officers.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that any military
action would not target the Syrian government's allies or anybody in
particular, but rather the Syrian government's chemical facilities.
Any U.S. strike similar to the limited one launched last year would
not cause a shift in the course of the war that has been going
Assad’s way since Russia intervened on his side.

DEADLY CHEMICAL ATTACK
Syrian aid workers reported more than 1,000 people injured in the
reported gas attack on Douma. Doctors and witnesses said victims
showed symptoms of poisoning, possibly by a nerve agent, and
reported the smell of chlorine gas.
France and Britain discussed with the Trump administration how to
respond to the Douma attack. Both stressed that the culprit still
needed to be confirmed.
The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
said Assad's government had been asked to make necessary
arrangements for an OPCW investigation team to visit shortly.
The mission will aim to determine whether banned munitions were used
but not assign blame.
The Assad government and Russia both urged the OPCW to investigate
the allegations, a move by the two countries that was apparently
aimed at averting any U.S.-led military action.
A European source said European governments were waiting for the
OPCW to carry out its inquiry and for more solid forensic evidence
from the attack to emerge. Any plan by Washington and its allies to
take military action was likely to be on hold until then, the source
told Reuters.
Despite the international revulsion over chemical weapons attacks,
the death toll from such incidents in Syria is only a fraction of
the hundreds of thousands of combatants and civilians killed since
the war erupted in 2011.
(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations,
Andrew Osborn and Maria Kiselyova in Moscow, Anthony Deutsch in
Amsterdam, Steve Holland, Idrees Ali, Mark Hosenball and Patricia
Zengerle in Washington, Jamie Freed in Singapore, Stephanie Nebehay
in Geneva; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
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