Airlines operating near Syrian airspace have been warned of possible airstrikes, as signs grow that the US and its allies are strongly considering a response to allegations of a weekend chemical attack by the Syrian government against civilians.
"Due to the possible launch of airstrikes into Syria with air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean/Nicosia FIR [flight information region] area," the Eurocontrol operator said.
The warning came as US, France and Britain were discussing the possibility of striking the Syrian government's chemical capacities in response to a chemical weapons attack last week on Douma, the last remaining rebel-held suburb of Damascus, according to France.
The US and its allies must take decisive action, said Fadel Abdul Ghani, head of the opposition Syrian Network for Human Rights, warning that the US cannot remain "absent" any longer in the Syrian conflict.
"There is no deterrence from the US against [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad. The US is absent again from the Syria yard," Abdul Ghani told dpa.
"We don't want these huge mistakes to be repeated again."
He said that decisive military action was "needed surgery" to make the Syrian regime and its allies Iran and Russia understand that the US was going to act and "not just condemn and have statements."
"I think [US] President [Donald] Trump is going to react. He has to, actually," Abdul Ghani said.
Russia, the main military backer of Syria's leadership, has called for a thorough investigation into the chemical weapons incident and raised concerns that fighting against the Syrian government could lead to instability in the country.
"The US-led Western coalition has not given up its designs on carrying out a Libyan or Iraqi scenario against Damascus," the head of a Russian parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Leonid Slutsky, said in comments carried by state news agency TASS.
Alexander Zasypkin, Russia's ambassador to Lebanon, which neighbours Syria, said Russia would shoot down any US missile launched at Syria and "the objects from which the volleys are launched will be struck," the Interfax news agency reported.
The Kremlin wants an "objective investigation" of the chemical weapons incident "to provide trustworthy data so that we don't rely on rumours and fake media reports," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to TASS.
"I want to hope that all countries will avoid steps which essentially haven't been sparked by anything and which may destabilize the fragile situation in the region," he said.
