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Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/u-s-send-message-chemical-weapons-unacceptable-article-1.3019432
America Must Send a Strong Message to Syria that Using Chemical Weapons in War Is Not Acceptable
(New York Daily News) Dennis Ross - The Syrian regime has carried out an air attack using Sarin gas in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, part of a wave of aerial bombardments that Assad's air forces have been conducting across Idlib province in northwestern Syria. There can be no doubt that Syria did not destroy or ship out all of its chemical weapons - notwithstanding its commitment to do so as part of the 2013 deal the U.S. and Russia negotiated. If Russia chooses to deny that the Assad regime was responsible for this attack, then no cooperation with the Russians in Syria is possible. It will show that agreements with the Russians, at least on Syria, are purely situational; so long as they serve Russian interests, they will be observed and they will be abandoned when they do not. The writer is counselor at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and served in senior positions in four U.S. administrations.