Nikki Haley urges action on Assad: 'We cannot close our eyes to those pictures'

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on Wednesday urged action from the U.N. Security Council in response to Tuesday’s deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Dozens died and still more were injured in what the United States believes were airstrikes carried out by the Syrian government Tuesday.


“The gas that fell out of the sky yesterday was more deadly, leaving men, women, the elderly and children gasping for their very last breath,” Haley said. “And as first responders, doctors and nurses rushed to help the victims, a second round of bombs rained down. They died in the same slow, horrendous manner as the civilians they were trying to save.”

In impassioned remarks at an emergency Security Council meeting, Haley called the attack a “disgrace at the highest level.” It’s a “new low” for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, she said, as well as an “assurance that humanity means nothing to the Syrian government.”

“Yesterday morning, we awoke to pictures, to children foaming at the mouth, suffering convulsions, being carried in the arms of desperate parents,” Haley said, holding up two images capturing just some of the devastation. “We saw rows of lifeless bodies, some still in diapers, some with visible scars of a chemical weapons attack. Look at those pictures. We cannot close our eyes to those pictures. We cannot close our minds of the responsibility to act.”

Haley did not specify what action should be taken, however, and the United States has not indicated what it will do in response to the attack.

President Donald Trump condemned “this intolerable attack” in a statement Tuesday, calling it a “reprehensible” act that “cannot be ignored by the civilized world.” But the president also declared it a consequence of his former President Barack Obama’s “weakness and irresolution.”

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He added Wednesday in brief comments to reporters: “It was a terrible affront to humanity, I can tell you. Terrible.”

Haley challenged the Security Council to do more than just talk, insisting it won’t live up to its description as a defender of peace, security and human rights if it fails to take action. She said if the United Nations did not act, the United States could take steps on its own, though she did not name them.

“If we are not prepared to act, then this council will keep meeting month after month to express outrage at the continuing use of chemical weapons, and it will not end,” she warned. “We will see more conflict in Syria. We will see more pictures that we can never un-see.”

Haley asserted that neither Russian nor Iran has an interest in peace, but she assigned more of the blame to Moscow.

“How many more children have to die before Russia cares?” Haley said.

Madeline Conway contributed to this report.