It should be a matter of hours by now. The United States is ready to attack the Assad regime, accused of the massacre that took place last August 21 on the outskirts of Damascus. “There is no doubt about those responsible for this appalling use of chemical weapons – ruled Il US Vice President, Joe Biden – it is about the Syrian regime. President Obama thinks, and I think so, that those who use chemical weapons against defenseless men, women and children must be held accountable”.
On the same line the Britain. British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke on the phone with Obama last night and "the two leaders agreed on the fact that all available information confirms that an attack with chemical weapons took place - reads a note from Downing Street - . Both agreed that there is no doubt about the responsibility of the Assad regime”.
According to the Washington Post, the US government could make public tomorrow part of the intelligence services dossier which demonstrates Syrian responsibilities. It would be radio interceptions. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed that the US has “positioned elements to be able to respond to every option chosen by the president. We are ready to go."
According to the NBC, the intervention should start as soon as Thursday and should not last more than three days. In all likelihood Tomahawk cruise missiles will be launched by the four torpedo fighters off the coast of Syria, as reported by Obama administration sources. From the White House and the State Department, however, they underline that Obama "has not yet made a formal decision".
In any case, the US government has already ruled out sending "ground troops", explaining that any attack "would not be intended to oust Assad's regime".
Yesterday the president Francois Hollande he announced that France too "is ready to punish" those responsible for the Syrian massacre. The foreign minister Emma Bonino instead, he communicated that Italy will not take part in an intervention "outside a mandate of the United Nations Security Council", without which the go-ahead for the use of military bases will not even arrive. But even with the go-ahead from the UN, "Italian participation would not be automatic".
La Russia, opposed to the attack, issued a warning through Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov: a military solution in Syria would destabilize the country and the entire Middle East chessboard.
From the Iran instead, explicit threats arrive. The Iranian Fars agency, close to the elite Pasdaran Corps, quotes a senior source of the Syrian armed forces: "If Damascus is attacked, Tel Aviv will also be targeted and a real war against Syria will produce a license to attack Israel".
On a war footing too Hezbollah: "A large-scale Western attack will immediately drag Lebanon into a hellish war against Israel," writes the Daily Star, quoting sources close to the group led by Hassan Nasrallah.
