Syria: Western onslaught fails to 'save Ghouta'

Chemical weapons claims, US threats and Israeli air raids failed to halt the liberation of Syria's Douma from Western-backed extremists on Monday.

Army of Islam gunmen continued their withdrawal from the town in the East Ghouta region, just northeast of the capital Damascus yesterday, even as US President Donald Trump raised the spectre of a repeat of last year's cruise missile attack.

A deal struck on Sunday to evacuate the insurgent group from Douma to the Turkish-occupied border town of Jarabulus, north of Aleppo, was holding. The national SANA news agency reported that 41 buses carrying hundreds of gunmen and their families left on Monday through a ceasefire corridor.

A government source said hostages held for years by the Army of Islam ― often in cages as human shields ― would be freed by tonight. The first busload of mostly women and children left the terrorist stronghold about 11pm on Sunday night, a SANA reporter confirmed.

A local source in Douma told Lebanon's Al Masdar News that the group had greatly exaggerated the number of captives in order to boost its bargaining power, but that in reallity they only totalled around 200.

No evidence

Russian military police entered Douma on Monday to investigate the claimed chemical attack. Layer Russia's UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya said the troops had found no evidence of chemical weapons.

Earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reminded the world of Moscow's warning last week of terrorist preparations for another false-flag “provocation” like that in the town Khan Sheikhoun just over a year ago, which prompted a massive ― but ineffective ― US cruise missile attack on Syria.

Mr Lavrov pointed to the entral role in both incidents of the so-called “White Helmets,” an anti-government group funded by the US and British governments and set up by former British army officer James Le Mesurier.

Israel bombs

Overnight Israel hit the T4 air base near Palmyra in central Syria, a nexus of the fight against Islamic State (ISIS), with jets apparently launching missiles after violating neighbouring Lebanese airspace, as in a string previous attacks.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said the aggression was intended to strengthen terrorist groups ― and divert public attention from the massacre of 16 Palestinian protesters in the besieged Gaza Strip by Israeli occupation forces just over a week earlier.

USA threatens

At a Monday White House cabinet meeting, US President Donald Trump threatened not only Syria but Iran and Russia over the unconfirmed claim, saying: “Nothing's off the table.”

Asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin bore responsibility for the alleged attack, Mr Trump said: "Everybody's gonna pay a price. He will and everybody will."

That was a day after Mr Trump called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an “animal.”

“Assad is the legitimate president of the Syrian Arab Republic,” Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitri Peskov responded to the “abusive” Trump tweet.

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