Former UK Ambassador to Syria: Assad Wasn't behind the Chemical Attack

Former British Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford says those calling for intervention in Syria are likes "dogs returning to their own vomit." Peter Ford says he believes it is "highly unlikely" that Russia or the Assad regime was behind the attack in Idlib.

'It's Us or Them' Review of Secretary Tillerson's First Official Visit to Moscow

The future of Syria and the Assad government dominated the US Secretary of State's first official visit to Moscow. Rex Tillerson met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and had an unscheduled and secret meeting with President Putin.

Calls Grow to Fire Sean Spicer After He Says Hitler Didn't Use Chemical Weapons During Holocaust

Lawmakers and Jewish organizations, including the Anne Frank Center, are continuing to call for White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to be fired, after Spicer compared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Hitler and falsely claimed Hitler never used chemical weapons. In fact, the Nazis systematically used poison gas as part of its genocide of 6 million Jews. The Nazis began experimenting with gas with the specific purpose of carrying out mass murder in the late 1930s. We speak to Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect.

Stephen Cohen: Will Syrian State Collapse & Fall into More Chaos If Assad Is Toppled?

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, "I think it is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end." But what will Syria look like if the U.S. pushes for regime change in Syria? Professor Stephen Cohen predicts Syria could fall into even more chaos

'100% Fabrication': Assad on Accusations of Chemical Attack in Idlib

The chemical incident in Idlib province blamed on Damascus was a “100 percent fabrication” as the Syrian military has already dismantled chemical weapons stockpiles, President Bashar Assad told AFP.

Assad Says Syria Chemical Attack Was Fabricated

The deadly gas attack in Syria is "100% fabrication", says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He explains here what he thinks really happened, in his first interview since the incident.

Who Really Has the Chemical Weapons - the Syrian Government or UK/US de facto Backed Militants?

We speak to the Associate Editor of the Spectator magazine, Middle East Eye columnist, Peter Oborne on the similar hallmarks this time round in Syria to WMD in Iraq and genocide in Libya.

Assad Says Army 'Gave Up' All Chemical Weapons

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government handed over all its chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013 and could not have been behind last week's suspected sarin attack.

Syria's Assad Denies Use of Chemical Weapons

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town was a "fabrication" to justify a US military strike, in an exclusive AFP interview.

Assad Says US 'Not Serious' About Fighting Terrorism

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accuses the United States and the West of not being "serious" about fighting terrorism in the region.

Syria's Assad Says Chemical Attack Is Pure Fabrication

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town was a "fabrication" to justify a US military strike, in an exclusive AFP interview.

Can Russia Abandon Assad? – Inside Story

US President Donald Trump's inauguration was expected to usher in a new era of close ties with Russia. The past week, however, shows that's not happening. Harsh words have been traded over the Syrian conflict. It started with the chemical attack in Idlib last week, blamed on the Russian-backed Assad regime, followed by the US strike on a Syrian airbase.

Rex Tillerson's visit to Moscow has done little to ease tensions. Tillerson met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss the future of the Syrian President. The US wants Assad gone. But Russia wants to know what America's real intentions are. And what the West is planning for a Syria without Assad?

Presenter: Sohail Rahman. Guests: Alexander Nekrassov, Russian political analyst and former Kremlin adviser; Wa'el Alzayat, former senior Syria adviser to Samantha Power, the US Ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama; Ian Black, visiting senior fellow at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics.

Kucinich: No Evidence Assad Was Behind Chemical Attacks

Sean Spicer Under Fire as Backlash Grows

The White House Press Secretary's remarks about Hitler, Assad, and the Holocaust have caused many to call for his resignation.

Sean Spicer Raises Outcry With Talk of Hitler, Assad and Poison Gas

THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, set off an intense backlash on Tuesday when he suggested that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was guilty of acts worse than Hitler and asserted that Hitler had not used chemical weapons, ignoring the use of gas chambers at concentration camps during the Holocaust. Mr. Spicer later apologized.

During his daily briefing for reporters, Mr. Spicer was defending President Trump’s decision to order a missile strike on Syria by trying to lend gravity to the actions of Mr. Assad. American officials accuse the Syrian president of using sarin gas, a lethal chemical weapon, in an attack on a rebel-held area of Idlib Province last week that killed dozens, many of them children.

But in misconstruing the facts of the Holocaust — Nazi Germany’s brutally efficient, carefully orchestrated extermination of six million Jews and others — Mr. Spicer instead drew a torrent of criticism and added to the perception that the Trump White House lacks sensitivity and has a tenuous grasp of history. Read on and comment » | Nicholas Fandos and Mark Landler | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

White House Accuses Russia of Cover-Up in Syria Chemical Attack

THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — The White House accused the Russian government on Tuesday of engaging in a cover-up of the chemical weapons attack last week by Syrian forces that prompted American missile strikes, saying that United States intelligence and numerous contemporaneous reports confirmed that the Syrians used sarin gas on their own people.

In a declassified four-page report that details United States intelligence on the chemical weapons attack and contains a point-by-point rebuttal of Moscow’s claims, the White House asserted that the Syrian and Russian governments had sought to confuse the world community about the assault through disinformation and “false narratives.”

The strongly worded document calls for international condemnation of Syria’s use of chemical weapons and harshly criticizes Russia for “shielding” an ally that has used weapons of mass destruction. Read on and comment » | Julie Hirschfeld Davis | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Vladimir Putin Claims the US Plans to Plant Chemical Weapons in Syria, Attack and Blame Assad

Putin Shrugs Off Criticism of Syria Ties before Tillerson Visit

THE GUARDIAN: Russian president calls for UN inquiry as he compares chemical attack claims against Syria to US accusations Iraq had WMDs

Vladimir Putin has shrugged off western criticism of his support for the Syrian regime, shortly after the top US diplomat said Bashar al-Assad’s days in power were numbered, ratcheting up tensions between the the US and Russia before talks in Moscow.

The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, had hoped to underscore the US position with a unified message from the G7, which condemned the chemical attack at a summit in Italy on Tuesday. However, G7 foreign ministers were divided over possible next steps and refused to back a UK call for fresh sanctions.

Putin said western and Turkish accusations that Syria’s government dropped the nerve agent sarin that killed dozens of civilians in Idlib earlier this month were comparable with the now-discredited claim that Saddam Hussein’s had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. » | Emma Graham-Harrison and Heather Stewart | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Syria’s Government ‘Coming to an End,’ Tillerson Warns Before Russia Trip

THE NEW YORK TIMES: LUCCA, Italy — Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said on Tuesday that the reign of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was “coming to an end” and warned that Russia was at risk of becoming irrelevant in the Middle East by continuing to support him.

Mr. Tillerson, in comments made just before he traveled to Moscow for a high-stakes summit meeting, sought to clear up the United States’ position on Syria while also declaring that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia needed to choose whether to side with Mr. Assad or the West.

Russia can be a part of the discussions “and play an important role,” Mr. Tillerson said at a Group of 7 meeting in Lucca, Italy, or it “can maintain its alliance with this group, which we believe is not going to serve Russia’s interests longer term.” » | Gardiner Harris | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Tillerson, on Eve of Russia Trip, Takes Hard Line on Syria

THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson is taking a hard line against Russia on the eve of his first diplomatic trip to Moscow, calling the country “incompetent” for allowing Syria to hold on to chemical weapons and accusing Russia of trying to influence elections in Europe using the same methods it employed in the United States.

Mr. Tillerson’s comments, made in interviews aired on Sunday, were far more critical of the Russian government than any public statements by President Trump, who has been an increasingly lonely voice for better ties with Russia. They seemed to reflect Mr. Tillerson’s expectation, which he has expressed privately to aides and members of Congress, that the American relationship with Russia is already reverting to the norm: one of friction, distrust and mutual efforts to undermine each other’s reach. Read on and comment » | David E. Sanger | Sunday, April 9, 2017