PA daily op-ed calls attack on Syrian chemical weapon facilities “barbaric,” accuses an “Anglo-Saxon-Israeli colonialist plot” of being behind violence in the region
Excerpt of an op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: "No to the tripartite aggression"
"The US, Britain, and France – and by implication Israel too – perpetrated an imperialist and barbaric act of aggression against the Arab republic of Syria. Warships launched 110 missiles from the Mediterranean Sea towards several civilian and military targets (sic., three chemical weapon facilities were attacked) in Syrian territories, but the criminal attack was a resounding failure and did not succeed in achieving any of its political goals, and its message arrived weak and wretched.
However, the problem was not the scope and level of the message, but a problem of principle – a violation of the sovereignty of an independent state and UN member. The attacking states did not receive any mandate from the UN for the attack in Syria. The talk about the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian civilians in Douma on April 7 [2018] is a big outright lie. From what was published of the investigations (sic., investigations of the chemical attack have not yet been published), it has become clear that these were edited videos, whose goal is to incite against both the regime and the people. They were nothing more than a transparent pretext, similar to the pretext of weapons of mass destruction that the administration of [former US President George W.] Bush the son used to begin his criminal war against sister Iraq in 2003…
Necessity requires every Arab to condemn the tripartite aggression, expose its infamy, and act to pursue the imperialist states in the international courts, and in the UN Security Council and General Assembly in order to convict them and put an end to their crimes and their hooliganism. This is because the acts of these states open the door wide to the return of the law of the jungle, which the Israeli ethnic cleansing state is implementing in the territories of the State of Palestine that were occupied on June 5, 1967 – the same rogue state that has at its disposal all of the types of nuclear, biological, and conventional weapons, and that deliberately murders defenseless Palestinian civilians…
What was said above does not constitute defense of the Syrian regime, but rather of the [Syrian] territorial integrity, the Syrian Arab people’s freedom, Arab nationalism, and the supreme interests of the brother [Syrian] people. The regime does not bear sole responsibility for the present situation; the Anglo-Saxon-Israeli colonialist plot and its mercenary Takfiri (i.e., A Muslim who accuses other Muslims of heresy, referring to organizations such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda) pawns are the most responsible for Syria's present situation."
Western strikes on Syrian chemical weapons - The US, the UK, and France launched missile strikes on three chemical weapons facilities in Syria on April 14, 2018, in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical attacks on civilians in Douma on April 7, 2018. Russia, a key backer of Assad’s regime, condemned the Western strikes. The US warned that it is ready to strike again if Assad continues to use chemical weapons.
Headline: "No to the tripartite aggression"
"The US, Britain, and France – and by implication Israel too – perpetrated an imperialist and barbaric act of aggression against the Arab republic of Syria. Warships launched 110 missiles from the Mediterranean Sea towards several civilian and military targets (sic., three chemical weapon facilities were attacked) in Syrian territories, but the criminal attack was a resounding failure and did not succeed in achieving any of its political goals, and its message arrived weak and wretched.
However, the problem was not the scope and level of the message, but a problem of principle – a violation of the sovereignty of an independent state and UN member. The attacking states did not receive any mandate from the UN for the attack in Syria. The talk about the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian civilians in Douma on April 7 [2018] is a big outright lie. From what was published of the investigations (sic., investigations of the chemical attack have not yet been published), it has become clear that these were edited videos, whose goal is to incite against both the regime and the people. They were nothing more than a transparent pretext, similar to the pretext of weapons of mass destruction that the administration of [former US President George W.] Bush the son used to begin his criminal war against sister Iraq in 2003…
Necessity requires every Arab to condemn the tripartite aggression, expose its infamy, and act to pursue the imperialist states in the international courts, and in the UN Security Council and General Assembly in order to convict them and put an end to their crimes and their hooliganism. This is because the acts of these states open the door wide to the return of the law of the jungle, which the Israeli ethnic cleansing state is implementing in the territories of the State of Palestine that were occupied on June 5, 1967 – the same rogue state that has at its disposal all of the types of nuclear, biological, and conventional weapons, and that deliberately murders defenseless Palestinian civilians…
What was said above does not constitute defense of the Syrian regime, but rather of the [Syrian] territorial integrity, the Syrian Arab people’s freedom, Arab nationalism, and the supreme interests of the brother [Syrian] people. The regime does not bear sole responsibility for the present situation; the Anglo-Saxon-Israeli colonialist plot and its mercenary Takfiri (i.e., A Muslim who accuses other Muslims of heresy, referring to organizations such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda) pawns are the most responsible for Syria's present situation."
Western strikes on Syrian chemical weapons - The US, the UK, and France launched missile strikes on three chemical weapons facilities in Syria on April 14, 2018, in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical attacks on civilians in Douma on April 7, 2018. Russia, a key backer of Assad’s regime, condemned the Western strikes. The US warned that it is ready to strike again if Assad continues to use chemical weapons.