Russia and Iran have drawn their own red lines in Syria in response to U.S. strikes on an airbase responsible for a chemical attack on civilians.
The two countries warned that the strikes crossed their own “red lines” in Syria, and that any potential follow-up military actions will be met with retaliation, according to a Sunday report by The Independent.
“What America waged in an aggression on Syria is a crossing of red lines. From now on we will respond with force to any aggressor or any breach of red lines from whoever it is and America knows our ability to respond well,” said the alliance’s joint command center.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a close ally of both Russia and Iran. In fact, the two countries are largely responsible for assuring his position since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. Assad was once thought to be on the verge of defeat two years ago, but he has since made a comeback thanks to Russian air strikes and Iranian ground support.
President Donald Trump, who once criticized strikes the previous Obama administration for mulling strikes on Assad, ordered an air strike on Syria’s al-Shayrat airfield airfield on Thursday. Aircraft stationed at the airbase are believed to be responsible for Tuesday’s sarin gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun, a town in northwestern Syria. More than 70 people died in the attack, while potentially hundreds more were injured.
Assad is known to have previously used chemical weapons against his own people, however, he was supposed to have given up his stockpiles under a 2013 agreement facilitated by Russia.
Russia claimed that Assad was not responsible for the attack, and that a strike on a Syrian rebel chemical weapons facility was the cause of the deaths. The U.S. and various experts have dismissed the allegation.
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