I.R.G.C. Media Defends Assad as U.S. Mulls Military Responses to Syrian Chemical Attack

While more evidence is surfacing that suggests the Syrian army may have been behind the chemical attack that killed scores of civilians in Syria, Iranian media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) continue to defend the regime of Bashar al-Assad. They argue that Damascus was not responsible for the killings. “Without doubt, the claims by Syrian opposition groups and some western and Arab countries that the Syrian army has used chemical weapons in Idlib can be categorically rejected. This is because there is no reason for the Syrian army, which has the upper hand on the battlefield, to use chemical weapons and invite an international outcry against itself,” writes Tabnak, an outlet affiliated with former I.R.G.C. chief commander Mohsen Rezaei.  Tasnim News Agency, an I.R.G.C. mouthpiece, called the allegations a “propaganda noise” by Western and Arab media in support of “terrorists.” The outlet also quoted Syria’s Foreign minister Walid Muallem as denying involvement in the incident.

Comment: The denial by I.R.G.C. media and the Syrian government comes as U.S. officials said today that American military saw Syrian fixed-wing aircraft drop chemical weapons on civilians in the Syrian city of Idlib this week. The New York Times, quoting a senior U.S. official, also reports that American intelligence has “established with high confidence that a Syrian government aircraft carried out the attack.” It adds that senior Defense Department officials are “developing options for a military strike in response to the Syrian government’s chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians on Tuesday.”

Moreover, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, said the devastating chemical weapons attack in Syria made it clear that there was “no role” for Assad to continue to govern Syria – a clear departure from his earlier comment that removing Assad was not a U.S. priority. Tillerson also promised a “serious response” from the United States, without elaborating. According to the CNN, President Donald Trump said today that “something should happen” about the Assad regime and he will meet with his national security team later today to discuss potential U.S. responses to the incident, including a military options.