UK READY FOR WAR: May 'snubs Corbyn plea for MP vote and prepares to join Syria attack'
THERESA May is ready to brush aside the concerns of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn by backing military action against Syria without a Parliamentary vote, according to sources.
Theresa May: Use of chemical weapons cannot go unchallenged
A humanitarian catastrophe which cannot go unchallenged
The Prime Minister views the need for a response to an apparent chemical attack near Damascus, which has been widely blamed on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, as urgent.
Mrs May, who has described the attack as “abhorrent” is keen to act now - despite concerns voiced by Mr Corbyn that bombing risked escalating the situation.
Even though she has yet to blame Assad unequivocally for the attack, there is an assumption that he is ultimately responsible, with military action likely to be taken within days.
Speaking yesterday, she described the use of chemical weapons as a "humanitarian catastrophe" which "cannot go unchallenged".
She did not comment on Donald Trump's tweet warning Russia to "get ready" for missiles being fired at its ally Syria.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Parliament "should always be given a say on any military action".
He said: "We don't want bombardment which leads to escalation and a hot war between the US and Russia over the skies of Syria.”
Medical sources say dozens were killed, including children, during the alleged toxic bombing of the former rebel stronghold of Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta region.
Russia claims the reports of the chemical attack as a "provocation" designed to justify Western intervention against the Syrian regime.
Mrs May described the alleged chemical attack as a "shocking, barbaric act" and said she was "appalled but not surprised" at Russia, which vetoed a US-drafted UN resolution proposing a new inquiry to establish who was to blame.
She said "all the indications" were that the Syrian regime of president Bashar al-Assad, which denies mounting a chemical attack, was responsible.
She added that the UK and its allies were looking at ways to "prevent and deter" the use of chemical weapons.
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 11 April 2018
On Tuesday she spoke on the phone with US President Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, agreeing their three countries would work together to take action to "uphold the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons".
Responding to a warning from Alexander Zasypkin, Moscow's ambassador to Lebanon, that missiles would be shot down and their launch sites targeted if they threatened the lives of Russian personnel, President Trump tweeted: "Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'"
On Tuesday President Macron stressed any military action would target "the regime's chemical capabilities", and not the forces of its allies, Russia or Iran.