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Monitor Daily Intro for May 15, 2017
David Clark Scott
The United States released photos today of a big, new crematorium in Syria. It says that 50 political prisoners are being executed each day 鈥� their bodies burned to hide the evidence.
Why is the US publicizing this now? The information about the mass slaughter 鈥� war crimes 鈥� was reported first by Amnesty International in February.
It appears that Washington is turning up the heat on Russia to take responsibility for the brutality of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In April, President Trump shifted his position on Mr. Assad, ordering a cruise-missile strike in response to a sarin gas attack that killed women and children. The chemical attack 鈥渃rossed a line for me,鈥� said Mr. Trump at the time.
The secret crematorium may be another line crossed for this administration.
Russia says it wants a peaceful solution to the war in Syria, but a US State Department official said today that 鈥渢here is no solution without an end to these atrocities.鈥�
The Trump administration is building a case for Russian removal of Assad as a prerequisite to any Syrian peace deal.
Here are our five stories for today.
