Official: Russia knew Syrian chemical attack was coming
Source: MSN/Associated Press
WASHINGTON The United States has concluded Russia knew in advance of Syria's chemical weapons attack last week, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
The official said a drone operated by Russians was flying over a hospital as victims of the attack were rushing to get treatment. Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the usage of chemical weapons.
The senior official said the U.S. has no proof of Russian involvement in the actual chemical attack in northern Syria.
But the official said the presence of the surveillance drone over the hospital couldn't have been a coincidence, and that Russia must have known the chemical weapons attack was coming and that victims were seeking treatment.
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/official-russia-knew-syrian-chemical-attack-was-coming/ar-BBzFdx8?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=UE01DHP
The question is whether Trump also knew, since Trump and Putin had discussed early on about coordinating the fight against ISIS with Assad. In other words, how does Trump go from celebrating his partnership with Putin/Assad to suddenly condemning Assad? After all, wasn't Trump's talking point that all Syrian refugees were terrorists?
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-and-putin-discuss-coordinating-on-isis-and-syria-kremlin-says/ar-AAmma1m?liBBnb7Kz
Trump and Putin discuss coordinating on ISIS and Syria
President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had their first official phone conversation Saturday, agreeing to partner in the fight against terrorism and the Arab-Israeli conflict and to forge stronger economic and political ties between their two countries, the Kremlin said.
At a moment of badly strained relations between the United States and Russia, Trump has hoped to cultivate a great relationship with Putin despite domestic pressures to maintain sanctions against Moscow.
Trumps call with Putin was one in a series of conversations he had Saturday with world leaders as he seeks to develop a personal rapport with the heads of such traditional U.S. allies as France, Germany and Japan.
His conversation with Putin comes during a period of tension for the two countries brought by Russias role in the Ukrainian crisis and the war in Syria, as well as the conclusion by U.S. intelligence agencies that Putin ordered systematic hacking of Democratic emails to tip the presidential election in Trumps favor have strained. The leaders agreed to have their staffs determine a possible time and place for their first meeting, the Kremlin said.
Likewise, even before he was President, Trump was talking about how Syria would be a U.S. ally.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/11/17/trumps-syria-strategy-would-be-a-disaster/
[div class"excerpt"]I've had an opposite view of many people regarding Syria. My attitude was you're fighting Syria; Syria is fighting ISIS; and you have to get rid of ISIS. Russia is now totally aligned with Syria, and now you have Iran, which is becoming powerful, because of us, is aligned with Syria. Now were backing rebels against Syria, and we have no idea who these people are.
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