President Donald Trump will stay home from a planned visit to South America to oversee the U.S. response to escalating tensions in Syria, the White House said Tuesday. Instead, Vice President Mike Pence will attend the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, which begins Friday. It will be the first time a U.S. president has not attended the summit since it began in 1994. Trump has promised to respond “forcefully” to an apparent chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government that killed and injured civilians in a rebel-held enclave outside Damascus last weekend.
Chemical attack ups tension over Syria
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by Mindy Belz
Posted 4/09/18, 11:35 am
SYRIA: No one has yet claimed responsibility for airstrikes early Monday on a military base that reportedly killed 14, including Iranians, but Syrian and Russian officials blame Israel.
Several missiles struck a Syrian air base on Monday as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces faced accusations of attacking a rebel-held town near Damascus with poison gas. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 14 people died when the missiles hit the air base in Homs province. Three of the dead were Iranian, Fars news agency reported. Russia and Syria both blamed Israel for the attack, saying Syria shot down five missiles while three others landed on the western section of the base. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the accusation.
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