Syrian Airbases targeted in response to suspected chemical weapons attack

ATTACKS have reportedly been launched on Syrian air bases in response to Sunday’s suspected chemical weapons attack.

According to a number of reports, jet fighters were heard and seen flying over Lebanon towards Syria around 3.30am local time (10.30AEST).

There are unconfirmed reports the Al Sin and Al Shoaayrat air bases were targeted in a number of attacks.

Syrian state television claimed the military airport in Homs in the centre of the country, was under attack from US missiles describing it as “an American aggression”.

However the White House denied reports it was conducting strikes.

Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood said in a statement, “At this time, the Department of Defense is not conducting air strikes in Syria.”

“However, we continue to closely watch the situation and support the ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable.”

“Several missiles hit the Tayfur airport,” state news agency SANA said, AFP reported.

Syrian state media claimed the regime shot down eight missiles that were targeting its Homs air base.

That came amid other claims Israel was responsible for the attacks.

Initial reports said at least 12 Syrian troops were killed in the attack and at least 30 injured.

The U.S. launched several dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base last year after a chemical attack in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun killed dozens of people.

Israel has also struck inside Syria in recent years.

The reports came as French President Emmanuel Macron accused Damascus of “chemical attacks” against civilians in the Syrian rebel enclave of Douma in a call with US leader Donald Trump on Sunday, as international outrage mounts against the alleged use of the weapons.

The statement from the Elysee Palace said Macron “strongly condemned the chemical attacks on April 7 against the population of Douma”.

It added that the two leaders shared information “confirming” the use of chemical weapons and would co-ordinate their efforts at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Monday.

Trump has warned there would be a “big price to pay” after Saturday’s attack, as rebels began evacuating Douma, the last sliver they held of their one-time stronghold Eastern Ghouta, under a deal with Syria’s regime.

“Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria,” Trump wrote on Twitter, lashing out at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, a key ally of the regime.

Damascus and its allies have denounced the accusations.

Syria’s White Helmets, who act as first responders in rebel-held areas of Syria, said “poisonous chlorine gas” had been used late on Saturday.

In a joint statement with the Syrian American Medical Society, the White Helmets said more than 500 cases were brought to medical centres “with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent”.

France, which has repeatedly said evidence of chemical use in Syria could prompt military action, responded by calling for an urgent UN Security Council meeting on Monday.

The request was also signed by eight other UN Security Council members including the US and Britain.

The Syrian government denied the allegations, calling them fabrications. First responders entering apartments in Douma late Saturday said they found bodies collapsed on floors, some foaming at the mouth. The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense rescue organization said the victims appeared to have suffocated. They did not identify the substance used, but the civil defense organization, also known as the White Helmets, and the Syrian American Medical Society, a medical relief organization, said survivors treated at clinics smelled strongly of chlorine.

Those reports could not be independently verified because of a government blockade around the town.

Hours after the attack, the Army of Islam rebel group agreed to surrender the town and evacuate their fighters to rebel-held northern Syria, Syrian state media reported. The group also agreed to give up its prisoners, a key demand of the government.

The government agreed to halt its assault after three days of indiscriminate air and ground attacks.

“There’s nothing left for civilians and fighters. We don’t have anything to stand fast,” said Haitham Bakkar, an opposition activist inside the town. He spoke to the Associated Press by WhatsApp.

“People now are going out in the streets looking for their loved ones in the rubble,” Bakkar said. “And we don’t have any space left to bury them.” More than 100 buses entered the town Sunday night to transport fighters and their families to Jarablus, a town under the shared control of rebels and Turkey, said Syrian state-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV.

The preparations follow a pattern of evacuations around the capital and other major Syrian cities as the government reasserts its control after seven years of war.

Human rights groups and United Nations officials say the tactic amounts to forced displacement, a war crime.