The Assad regime in Syria is preparing for another chemical weapons attack on its own people, the White House warned in an ominous statement on Monday night.
The attack will be similar to one in April which prompted the US to launch missile strikes on a military base, the statement said, and will likely harm ‘innocent children and civilians’.
‘The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children. The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack.
‘As we have previously stated, the United States is in Syria to eliminate the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
‘If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price,’ it said.
There was no further detail given of how the US will respond to a fresh attack.
If imminent, the attack would coincide with the end of Eid. President Assad greeted fellow worshipers as he left a mosque in Hama on Sunday to observe the holiday.
On April 4, 89 people died in a Sarin gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun.
Photographs taken in the aftermath of the atrocity of children writhing in pain as adults frantically tried to clean their bodies with water bottles shocked the world.
The attack was so horrifying it prompted President Trump to launch missile strikes on one of the Assad regime’s airbases.
Assad not only denied having any role in the attack but suggested that it was a hoax that had been thought up by one of his many enemies.
He suggested that the photographs which shocked the world including those of a grieving father weeping over his dead twin babies had been staged by terrorist groups eager to turn the West against him.
He was bolstered in his offensive claims by the Kremlin which also criticized how the blast site was handled after the atrocity.
US troops are already in Syria providing training and resources to Kurdish an Arab rebel forces in their ongoing fight against ISIS.
Assad’s military conflict predates the spread of ISIS in Syria which now dominates news of the country’s catastrophic state.
After his remarks about the April 4 attack, the parents of some of the children killed in it begged the rest of the world to expose him for the ‘lying criminal’ they say he is.
One, whose twin babies died in the blast, told MailOnline of his anguish.
‘How can he pretend that they are not dead? How? We saw them. We buried them with our own hands,’ Abdul Hamid al-Yousef said.
‘I pray that all the governments of all the world do not believe the lies of this criminal regime,’ he added.
