美國稱敘利亞和俄羅斯應對杜馬鎮化武攻擊負責

U.S. officials are expressing "high confidence" that Syria carried out last week's chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma, promising the West will respond and that all options remain on the table.

Despite Tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week suggesting a missile strike might be imminent, the White House, State Department, and Pentagon have been cautious in their language, emphasizing the need to forge an airtight case against the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

By late Friday, there were indications such a case was coming together.

"We have a very high confidence that Syria was responsible," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at a briefing.

"We also hold Russia responsible for their failure to stop chemical weapons attacks from taking place," Sanders added. "Russia's failure to stop them and their continued [inaction] on this front has been part of the problem."

The State Department went one step further, claiming the U.S. now has definitive proof.

"We can say that the Syrian government was behind this attack," said spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

"We know that this was a chemical weapon that was used in Syria," Nauert said. "The kind or the mix, that we are still looking into."

Despite such confidence, other U.S. officials remained wary, warning while Syria's use of chemical weapons cannot be tolerated, much more is at stake given the backing it gets from Moscow.

"This is a chess game and the Russians are ratcheting up the pressure," a U.S. official told VOA on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation. "They're playing dirty," the official added. "We need to think two or three steps ahead."

Russia, long an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has warned a military conflict could erupt if the U.S. and its Western allies take action in Syria.

"We hope that ... the U.S. and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state," Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia said Friday.

Also Friday, Moscow alleged it had "proof that testifies to the direct participation of Britain" in staging the chemical attack in Douma.

Britain pressured the White Helmets, volunteers and activists who serve as first responders in rebel-held areas, to stage the attack, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Britain called the allegation a "blatant lie."美國官員表示“高度確信”敘利亞發動了上星期東古塔杜馬鎮的化學武器襲擊案，並且表示西方會做出反應，而且各種選項都不排除。

雖然美國總統川普本星期早些時候發推表示可能立刻進行導彈打擊，但是白宮、國務院和五角大樓用詞都一直比較謹慎，強調需要找齊針對敘利亞總統阿薩德政府的鐵證。

到了星期五傍晚，有跡象顯示這樣的證據正在彙集起來。

白宮發言人桑德斯在記者會上說，“我們非常確信這是敘利亞乾的。”

桑德斯還說，“我們認爲俄羅斯也有責任，因爲他們未能阻止化武攻擊的發生。俄羅斯未能阻止而且繼續無動於衷，這是問題的部分所在。”

美國國務院更是邁進了一步，宣稱美國掌握了確鑿證據。

國務院女發言人諾爾特說：“我們可以說，敘利亞政府指使發動了這次襲擊。”

她說：“我們知道在敘利亞使用了化學武器，我們正在研究這種化學制劑。”

雖然這些官員十分確信，但是另一些美國官員很小心。他們提醒說，雖然敘利亞使用化學武器是不可容忍的行爲，但是鑑於敘利亞得到俄羅斯的支持，此事有更大的危險。

一名官員以不透露姓名爲條件對美國之音說，“這是一場棋賽，俄羅斯人加大了壓力。他們耍賴。我們每走一步需要多想幾步棋。“

俄羅斯呼籲敘利亞牽涉到的各方避免採取可能導致這個地區局勢不穩的行動。

俄羅斯常駐聯合國代表瓦西里·涅邊賈大使說：”我們希望美國及其盟國實行剋制，不要對一個主權國家採取軍事行動。”

俄羅斯星期五還指責英國策劃僞造了化武襲擊的現場。

俄羅斯國防部發言人伊戈爾·科納申科夫說，英國向“白盔隊”民防組織施加壓力，迫使他們僞造襲擊的畫面。“白盔隊”由志願人員和活動人士組成，他們是反政府力量控制區率先對應急事態做出反應的人員。

英國則駁斥說，這是“赤裸裸的謊言”。