Some lawmakers have warned that the operation might turn out to be a largely symbolic strike that would leave the Assad government with the capability to mount sustained attacks against civilians with artillery, rockets, aircraft and conventional arms and would do little to reduce the violence in Syria, limit the flow of refugees or encourage Mr. Assad to negotiate seriously if a Geneva peace conference is convened. 
 
 Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, suggested in an interview that the attacks go further than what appears to be under consideration by the administration, including strikes on the Syrian Air Force, its munitions depots and military fuel supplies to “tip the battle in favor of the insurgents.” 
 
 “We should try to help the rebels and help the people fighting Assad,” Mr. Engel said. 
 
 Frederic C. Hof, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who previously worked on Middle East issues for the State and Defense Departments, has urged that the Obama administration consider a broader military mission: destroying or significantly degrading the ability of the Assad government to carry out intensive artillery, aircraft and rocket attacks with conventional as well as chemical warheads on the civilian population. 
 
 “Something that is significantly less than that, something that is seen as symbolic, I think would just enable Bashar al-Assad to say I have stood up to the world’s only superpower and faced it down,” he said. 
 
 The main American attack is expected to be carried out by cruise missiles from some or all of the four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers within striking range of Syria in the Mediterranean: the Mahan, the Barry, the Gravely and the Ramage. 
 
 Each ship carries about two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles, a low-flying, highly accurate weapon that can be launched from safe distances of up to about 1,000 miles. Tomahawks were used to open the conflicts in Afghanistan in 2001, in Iraq in 2003 and in Libya in 2011. Attack submarines also carry Tomahawks and are assumed to be on station in the Mediterranean as well. 
 
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 Officials said that while Syrian rocket and artillery sites were expected to be targeted, there were no current plans to use Tomahawks to crater airfields used by the government to receive weapons and military supplies from Iran, an important lifeline for the Assad government. 
 
 Weapons experts said that Tomahawk missile strikes, while politically and psychologically significant, could have a limited tactical effect. The weapons are largely fuel and guidance systems and carry relatively small high-explosive warheads. One conventional version contains about 260 pounds of explosives and another version carries about 370 pounds. Each is less than the explosive power of a single 1,000-pound air-dropped bomb. 
 
 The weapons are not often effective against mobile targets, like missile launchers, and cannot be used to attack underground bunkers. Naval officers and attack planners concede that the elevation of the missile cannot entirely be controlled and that there is a risk of civilian casualties when they fly slightly high. 
 
 Some officials have also cautioned that Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants might step up terrorism around the region in reaction to American strikes on Syria. Another risk is that Mr. Assad might respond to the attack by firing missiles at Turkey or Jordan or mounting even more intensive attacks against civilians. 
 
 Although some experts believe that the Syrian government already has its hands full trying to contain the rebels and would not relish a war with the United States, they say that the Obama administration needs to be prepared for another round of airstrikes should Mr. Assad raise the stakes. 
 
 In an indicator of the complexities within Syria’s civil war, and the difficulties faced by the Obama administration in any effort to guide the conflict’s path, jihadi fighters opposed to Mr. Assad were warning one another to take steps to avoid being hit in any impending American attacks. 
 
 On Monday night, one prominent member of the Nusra Front, a rebel group aligned with Al Qaeda and designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the United States, used a Facebook posting to urge fellow members to move away from their bases or positions in Syria. 
 
 “All fighters in Jabhat al-Nusra,” he wrote, using the organization’s Arabic name, “please constantly change your positions and don’t share anything online. There is a conspiracy by America and its tails to hit our positions.” 
 
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 Attacking chemical weapons storage sites comes with the same difficulties and risks associated with attacking munitions depots generally, and with its own special dangers, which the American military encountered in two wars in Iraq. First among them are risks of contamination to the very Syrian civilians that any military action would officially be intended to protect. 
 
 Many veterans suspect that some of the effects of Gulf War syndrome that afflicted veterans of the Persian Gulf war of 1991 were caused by exposure to chemical weapons released in clouds by conventional airstrikes against Iraq’s chemical weapons sites in southern Iraq. 
 
 After the first gulf war, an American Army unit near Kuwait breached chemical weapons while destroying conventional munitions at Khamisiyah, creating an environmental hazard that persisted throughout the American occupation of Iraq after the invasion in 2003. 
 
 Similarly, airstrikes in 1991 on bunkers at the Muthanna chemical weapons complex near Samarra, Iraq, led to security and environmental problems that continue to the present day. 
 
 During the Clinton administration, the United States and its NATO allies carried out extensive airstrikes against Serb forces in Bosnia, which weakened them to the point that a peace settlement to end the Bosnia war was negotiated in 1995 at an American Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio. 
 
 Similarly in Kosovo in 1999, an intensive NATO air campaign that lasted 78 days led to an agreement in which Yugoslav forces withdrew from Kosovo, and the region achieved autonomy and eventually independence. 
 
 Mr. Obama’s national security aides have been studying the NATO air war in Kosovo as a possible blueprint for acting militarily in Syria without a mandate from the United Nations. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption President Barack Obama: ''I have no interest in any kind of open-ended conflict in Syria'' 
 
 US President Barack Obama has said he has not yet decided on a plan for retaliatory action against Syria. 
 
 But he said he had concluded Syrian government forces were behind a recent chemical weapons attack near Damascus. 
 
 Speaking on US television, Mr Obama said the use of chemical weapons affected US national interests and that sending a "shot across the bows" could have a positive impact on Syria's war. 
 
 His comments follow a day of behind-the-scenes wrangling at the UN. 
 
 The UK had been pushing for permanent members of the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution which would have authorised measures to protect civilians in Syria. 
 
 But Syrian ally Russia refused to agree to the resolution and the meeting produced no end to the diplomatic stalemate which has long characterised the UN position on Syria. 
 
 The US State Department criticised "Russian intransigence" and said it could not allow diplomatic paralysis to serve as a shield for the Syrian leadership. 
 
 Russia is sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the eastern Mediterranean. 
 
 The ships are being sent to strengthen the navy's presence in the area because of the "well-known situation" there, the Russian news agency Interfax has said. 
 
 But another news agency, RIA Novosti, quotes a senior naval command spokesman as saying that this is just a planned rotation, unconnected with Syria. 
 
 'Strong signal' 
 
 Critics have questioned what purpose a limited strike on Syria could serve, but Mr Obama told the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) it would send the government of Bashar al-Assad "a pretty strong signal that it better not [use chemical weapons] again". 
 
 The US has yet to produce the intelligence it says shows Mr Assad's government is guilty of using chemical weapons, and UN weapons inspectors are still investigating inside Syria. 
 
 The team has just begun a third day of on-site investigations, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appealed for it to be "given time to do its job". He said the inspectors would finish their investigations and be out of the area by Saturday morning. 
 
 Syria denies using chemical weapons and blames opposition fighters for the attack near Damascus on 21 August, which reportedly killed hundreds of people. 
 
 If there was action it would be to send the Syrian regime a 'pretty strong signal' 
 
 It accused the West of "inventing" excuses to launch a strike. 
 
 In a sign of growing fears about an impending attack among Syrians, the Associated Press quoted Lebanese officials as saying at least 6,000 Syrians crossed into Lebanon in a 24-hour period through the main Masnaa crossing - compared to a normal daily tally of between 500 and 1,000 refugees. 
 
 "Isn't it enough, all the violence and fighting that we already have in the country, now America wants to bomb us, too?" one 45-year-old woman, entering Lebanon with her five children, told AP. 
 
 In Damascus senior military commanders are reportedly staying away from buildings thought likely to be targeted. You "could hear a pin drop" at one of them, a local resident said. 
 
 'Consequences' 
 
 President Obama told PBS that the US had "not yet made a decision, but the international norm against the use of chemical weapons needs to be kept in place, and hardly anyone disputes that chemical weapons were used in a large scale in Syria against civilian populations". 
 
 Military intervention is morally justified Anthony Luder, Safed, Israel 
 
 Intervening now in Syria would be a terrible mistake Demetrios Nicolaides, Limassol, Cyprus Global readers' voices on Syria 
 
 "We've looked at all the evidence, and we don't believe the opposition possessed chemical weapons of that sort," he said. 
 
 He added he had concluded that the Syrian government carried out the chemical weapons attack. 
 
 "There need to be international consequences, so we are consulting with our allies," he said. 
 
 There was "a prospect that chemical weapons could be directed at us - and we want to make sure that doesn't happen". 
 
 The BBC's David Willis in Washington says Mr Obama looked cautious and spoke in a measured way, and he was clearly concerned about getting Congress on board as well as the American public. 
 
 Opinion polls until now have shown very little interest among the US public in getting involved in the Syrian conflict. 
 
 In an open letter to the president, US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner demanded he explain "the intended effect of military strikes", and how he would prevent the intervention escalating, if he wanted to win public and congressional backing for action. 
 
 More than 110 members of Congress have signed a letter formally requesting that Mr Obama seek congressional approval for any action in Syria. 
 
 US officials are expected to give senior members of Congress a classified briefing on the evidence that the Syrian government carried out the alleged chemical attack on Thursday. 
 
 Models for possible intervention Iraq 1991: US-led global military coalition, anchored in international law; explicit mandate from UN Security Council to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait 
 
 US-led global military coalition, anchored in international law; explicit mandate from UN Security Council to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait Balkans 1990s: US arms supplied to anti-Serb resistance in Croatia and Bosnia in defiance of UN-mandated embargo; later US-led air campaign against Serb paramilitaries. In 1999, US jets provided bulk of 38,000 Nato sorties against Serbia to prevent massacres in Kosovo - legally controversial with UN Security Council resolutions linked to "enforcement measures" 
 
 US arms supplied to anti-Serb resistance in Croatia and Bosnia in defiance of UN-mandated embargo; later US-led air campaign against Serb paramilitaries. In 1999, US jets provided bulk of 38,000 Nato sorties against Serbia to prevent massacres in Kosovo - legally controversial with UN Security Council resolutions linked to "enforcement measures" Somalia 1992-93: UN Security Council authorised creation of international force with aim of facilitating humanitarian supplies as Somali state failed. Gradual US military involvement without clear objective culminated in Black Hawk Down disaster in 1993. US troops pulled out 
 
 UN Security Council authorised creation of international force with aim of facilitating humanitarian supplies as Somali state failed. Gradual US military involvement without clear objective culminated in Black Hawk Down disaster in 1993. US troops pulled out Libya 2011: France and UK sought UN Security Council authorisation for humanitarian operation in Benghazi in 2011. Russia and China abstained but did not veto resolution. Air offensive continued until fall of Gaddafi Syria crisis: Western military options Models for possible intervention Press apprehension as Syria tension builds Syria crisis: Where key countries stand 
 
 The US has said it will not take action alone - but one of its primary allies, the UK, has agreed to wait until UN inspectors report back before taking a parliamentary vote on potential action. 
 
 Russia rejected a UK push to try to agree a resolution on Syria among permanent UN Security Council members on Wednesday, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying the UN could not consider any draft resolution or proposed action in Syria before the UN weapons inspectors reported back. 
 
 The use of force without a sanction of the UN Security Council would be a "crude violation" of international law and "lead to the long-term destabilisation of the situation in the country and the region", Mr Lavrov has said. 
 
 UN 'moment' 
 
 The UK, US and France are continuing their discussions following the meeting of the five permanent members. 
 
 The UK will want to be seen to be exhausting every diplomatic avenue, says the BBC's Nick Bryant at the UN headquarters in New York. 
 
 For the UK, there needs to be a UN "moment" - despite the fact that UN action will likely again be blocked by Russia or China. 
 
 But even without UN backing the US and its allies have been clear that they see the military option still open to them, our correspondent says. 
 
 "This is the first use of chemical warfare in the 21st Century," said UK Foreign Secretary William Hague. "It has to be unacceptable... or we will confront even bigger war crimes in the future." 
 
 More than 100,000 people are estimated to have died since the conflict erupted in Syria in March 2011, and the conflict has produced at least 1.7 million refugees. 
 
 Forces which could be used against Syria: ||||| In this photo released Saturday, April 14, 2018, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a man kisses his national flag which is wrapped around the arm of a Syrian soldier, after Syrian police units... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo released Saturday, April 14, 2018, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a man kisses his national flag which is wrapped around the arm of a Syrian soldier, after Syrian police units entered the town of Douma, the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack and the last rebel-held town... (Associated Press) 
 
 BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local): 
 
 10:15 p.m. 
 
 Germany's foreign minister hopes the U.S.-led air strikes in Syria will result in a fresh effort to find a peaceful solution to the seven-year conflict. 
 
 Heiko Maas told public broadcaster ARD that the military attack by western nations against Bashar Assad's forces "should make clear to all parties that we don't just have the opportunity but the necessity to take up the political process again." 
 
 Maas says he hopes a "window for dialogue" has opened with Moscow — Syria's ally — now that the Russian elections are over. 
 
 Germany didn't join the United States, Britain and France in the strikes, though Chancellor Angela Merkel called the attack "necessary and appropriate." 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:45 p.m. 
 
 Pro-Russian Czech President Milos Zeman has condemned the allied airstrikes in Syria. 
 
 In a radio interview Sunday, Zeman said a military action against any state can only be carried out after approval from the U.N. Security Council. He said attacks against Islamic militants should be the only exception. 
 
 Zeman also said the strikes were a mistake because they came at a time when refugees were returning to the war-ravaged country. 
 
 The president also criticized acting Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis' positive response to the strikes. Babis said Saturday that they were "inevitable" because the regime of President Bashar Assad uses chemical weapons to attack civilians. After meeting Zeman on Sunday, Babis backtracked, saying the strikes don't solve anything. 
 
 In the Czech Republic, the government is in charge of the foreign policy, not the president. 
 
 6:50 p.m. 
 
 Lebanon's Hezbollah leader says the Western strikes against Syria following alleged use of chemical weapons will likely complicate prospects of a political solution and have failed to achieve any of their results. 
 
 Speaking by video link at a rally of his supporters on Sunday, Hassan Nasrallah says the U.S.-ordered strikes have strained international relations and could totally "torpedo" the U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Geneva. He says the strikes were "limited" and were recognition of the strength of the "resistance axis." The term is in reference to the alliance between Syria, Iran and Hezbollah. 
 
 The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, founded originally to fight Israel's occupation of Lebanese territories, has sent hundreds of fighters to back the troops of President Bashar Assad in the war, now in its eighth year. 
 
 U.S. President Donald Trump and his British and French allies say the airstrikes were necessary to deter Syria's use of chemical weapons. Syria and Russia deny any chemical weapons were used and insist the Western powers had no evidence. 
 
 ___ 
 
 6:20 p.m. 
 
 U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says the U.S. will be imposing more economic sanctions on Russia for its support of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his apparent use of chemical weapons. 
 
 Haley says Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will be making the announcement by Monday and it will affect companies that are "dealing with equipment related to Assad and any chemical weapons use." 
 
 She tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that Russia needs to feel the consequences for protecting the Assad regime. Haley notes that Russia has vetoed six resolutions in the United Nations Security Council regarding chemical weapons. 
 
 Haley says the fact that Assad was making the use of chemical weapons "more normal and that Russia was covering this up, all that has got to stop." 
 
 Syrian opposition activists and first responders say a chemical attack on the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital, killed more than 40 people on April 7. 
 
 ___ 
 
 6:15 p.m. 
 
 Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani have held a telephone conversation to discuss Syrian conditions in the wake of a joint missile airstrike by the U.S., U.K. and France on the country. 
 
 The leaders "agreed that this illegal action is adversely impacting prospects for political settlement in Syria," a statement by the Kremlin said Sunday. 
 
 Putin stressed that if such actions in violation of the UN Charter continue, "it will inevitably entail chaos in international relations," according to the statement. 
 
 The official IRNA news agency quoted Rouhani as saying "The U.S. and some western countries do not want Syria to reach permanent stability." 
 
 Rouhani said both Iran and Russia should not allow "fire of a new tension" to flare up in the region, adding that Saturday's airstrikes on Syria were an "invasion" and aimed at "emboldening defeated terrorists," according to the report. 
 
 Both Iran and Russia are key allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad whose forces have been accused of carrying out a chemical weapons attack near Damascus a week ago that prompted the missile attack by the Western powers. 
 
 ___ 
 
 5:50 p.m. 
 
 Serbia, Russia's key ally in Europe, says it won't take sides in the Syrian crisis following the U.S.-led attacks on Syrian chemical weapons sites. 
 
 President Aleksandar Vucic said in a statement Sunday that Serbia generally condemns the use of chemical weapons, but "won't get involved in big powers' relations." 
 
 The statement says Vucic met with U.S. ambassador in Serbia Kyle Scott over the situation in Syria. 
 
 While formally seeking European Union membership, Serbia has kept strong political and military ties with traditional ally Russia. Anti-Western sentiments remain high, stemming from the 1999 U.S.-led NATO bombing of Serbia that stopped the war in Kosovo. 
 
 Vucic says that "Serbia jealously guards and protects its military neutrality." He adds "our country wants to talk to everyone and have a partner and friendly relationship (with everyone.)" ___ 
 
 5:25 p.m. 
 
 U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is making clear the United States won't be pulling troops out of Syria right away. 
 
 Haley spoke after President Donald Trump in a tweet Sunday defended his use of the term "Mission accomplished" to describe U.S.-led strikes in Syria. She says U.S. involvement in Syria "is not done." 
 
 Haley says the three U.S. goals for accomplishing its mission are making sure chemical weapons are not used in a way that could harm U.S. national interests; that the Islamic state is defeated; and that there is a good vantage point to watch what Iran is doing. 
 
 She tells "Fox News Sunday": "We're not going to leave until we know we've accomplished those things." 
 
 Haley reiterates that if Syrian President Bashar Assad uses poison gas again, "the United States is locked and loaded." 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:45 p.m. 
 
 President Donald Trump is defending his use of the phrase "mission accomplished" to refer to the U.S.-led strikes in Syria. 
 
 Trump tweets on Sunday that the mission was "so perfectly carried out, with such precision, that the only way the Fake News Media could demean was by my use of the term 'Mission Accomplished.'" 
 
 He adds: "I knew they would seize on this but felt it is such a great Military term, it should be brought back. Use often!" 
 
 Trump's use of the phrase Saturday had evoked comparisons with President George W. Bush, who in 2003 stood under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished" as he declared that major combat operations had ended in Iraq six weeks after the invasion. But the war dragged on for years. 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:15 p.m. 
 
 Iran has condemned the Western strikes on Syria, saying no country has a right to take punitive measures against another "beyond international procedures." 
 
 The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying that Iran had warned about the possibility that "terrorist groups" were behind the alleged chemical attack that triggered the strikes. It said he communicated his concerns in a phone call Sunday with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. 
 
 Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose forces have been accused of carrying out a chemical weapons attack near Damascus a week ago that opposition activists and rescuers say killed more than 40 people. The attack prompted the U.S., Britain and France to carry out a missile attack on Syrian military targets early Saturday. 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:10 p.m. 
 
 Syria's President Bashar Assad says the Western airstrikes against his country were accompanied by a campaign of "lies" and misinformation in the U.N. Security Council. 
 
 Assad spoke Sunday to a group of visiting Russian politicians. His comments were carried by state media. 
 
 Assad and Russia deny using chemical weapons, the trigger for the strikes early Saturday. An alleged gas attack last weekend in the town of Douma killed more than 40 people, according to opposition activists and rescuers. 
 
 Assad told his visitors that the U.S., Britain and France, which carried out the strikes, had waged a campaign of "lies and misinformation" against Russia and Syria. 
 
 The U.N. Security Council has been paralyzed in dealing with the seven-year Syrian conflict and the use of chemical weapons. Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member, is a close ally of Assad. 
 
 ___ 
 
 2:45 p.m. 
 
 About 350 protesters from communist organizations in Cyprus have gathered in front of the entrance gate of a British air base to denounce U.S.-led airstrikes against suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria. 
 
 Protest leader Akis Poullos says they are demanding the closure of RAF Akrotiri, from where four British Tornado warplanes took off to take part in the missile strike. 
 
 Poullos said Sunday's demonstration was also a message to the Cyprus government not to lend any assistance to "imperialist attacks" on Syria and to demand an end to the war in the country. 
 
 Protesters used red paint to write "NATO killers go home" on a nearby wall outside the base's gate. 
 
 Former colonial ruler Britain retained RAF Akrotiri and another military base on Cyprus after the east Mediterranean island gained independence in 1960. 
 
 The Cyprus government said it wasn't given any forewarning about Saturday's airstrikes. It also said British Prime Minister Theresa May assured Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades that there's no danger to Cyprus and that Cypriots can feel secure. 
 
 ___ 
 
 2:30 p.m. 
 
 British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says he hopes there is no need for additional strikes against Syria, but that Britain and its allies will consider further action if Syrian President Bashar Assad uses chemical weapons in the future. 
 
 Johnson told the BBC on Sunday the airstrikes were proportionate and showed "the world has said enough is enough." 
 
 He says "so far, thank heavens, the Assad regime has not been so foolish to launch another chemical weapons attack," adding that Britain and its allies "would study what the options were" in the event of another attack. 
 
 Meanwhile, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn says the airstrikes were "legally debatable" and that Britain must abide by international law if it wants the moral high ground. He is demanding legislation to give Parliament more scrutiny over military action. 
 
 The U.S., France and Britain launched missiles at Syrian military targets early Saturday in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus a week ago. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:45 p.m. 
 
 Syrian state TV says another 5,000 security forces are deploying in a town near the capital that was brought under full government control a week after an alleged chemical attack. 
 
 Douma was the last rebel holdout in the eastern Ghouta suburbs, the target of a massive government offensive in February and March. The town was also the scene of a suspected poison gas attack on April 7 that prompted the U.S., Britain and France to launch missiles on Syrian military targets early Saturday. 
 
 The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied allegations of a chemical attack. An international fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is in Syria and expected to visit Douma. 
 
 State-run Al-Ikhbariya TV says a second batch of 5,000 security forces deployed in Douma on Sunday. 
 
 Syrian newspapers meanwhile boasted that the country's air defense systems had shot down missiles. 
 
 The front-page headline of the government daily Tishrin reads: "Our heroic army shoots down the missiles of aggression." 
 
 The Pentagon says none of the missiles were shot down and that Syria's air defenses were ineffective. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:35 p.m. 
 
 Pope Francis says he is "deeply disturbed" by the international community's failure to come up with a common response to the crises in Syria and other parts of the world. 
 
 The pontiff said after his traditional Sunday blessing that "despite the tools available to the international community, it is difficult to agree on a common action toward peace in Syria or other regions of the world." 
 
 Francis called on "all people of goodwill" to join him in praying for peace, and appealed to political leaders to help "justice prevail." 
 
 The pope spoke after airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain aimed at taking out Syria's chemical weapons capacity, following a suspected poison gas attack on a Damascus suburb that killed dozens, including children. 
 
 ___ 
 
 1:15 p.m. 
 
 A group of Russian politicians has met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose mood they describe as good a day after Western airstrikes. 
 
 In Assad's view, the airstrikes that were launched in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by Syrian forces on the town of Douma will unify the country. That's according to Dmitry Sablin, a member of the lower house of the Russian parliament, who was quoted by Russian news agencies. 
 
 Natalya Komarova, governor of Russia's Khanty-Mansiysk region, also attended Sunday's meeting. She says: "President Assad has an absolutely positive attitude, a good mood." 
 
 Sablin was quoted as saying that Assad estimates rebuilding the country after years of war would cost $400 billion. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11 a.m. 
 
 France is urging Russia to join a push for a political solution in Syria after joint U.S., French and British attacks on Syrian chemical weapons sites. 
 
 French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview published Sunday in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that "we should join our efforts to promote a political process in Syria that would allow a way out of the crisis." 
 
 France has continued to talk regularly with Russia even as East-West tensions have grown. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, hours before the Western missile strikes. 
 
 Western countries blamed Syria's government for a chemical attack on a rebel-held area earlier this month that killed more than 40 people. The Syrian government and its ally Russia denied the allegations.
– A government backed by Russia is accused of killing its own civilians. That applies not only to the current situation in Syria but to the 1999 situation in Kosovo. And as the New York Times reports, top US officials are keeping Kosovo very much in mind as they weigh their options. President Obama would likely never get the approval of the UN Security Council for a military response because of Russia's veto power. When Bill Clinton was in the same boat in 1999, he turned to NATO and got its blessing for 78 days of airstrikes. “It’s a step too far to say we’re drawing up legal justifications for an action, given that the president hasn’t made a decision,” a government official tells the Times. “But Kosovo, of course, is a precedent of something that is perhaps similar.” Obama was meeting today with national security aides to determine next steps if the US concludes that Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons. (Assad in turn accused the rebels of doing the same today.) Meanwhile, the US Navy is keeping two destroyers positioned in the Mediterranean in case the green light is given for a cruise-missile attack, reports the Wall Street Journal.