The US, UK, and France are bombing Syria right now. On the night of April 13, the tripartite imperialist powers launched a joint military assault on Syrian government targets in the cities of Damascus and Homs.

Let’s be clear: this is absolutely illegal under international law. This is a crime of aggression that violates the charter of the United Nations.

UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order Alfred de Zayas, a human rights expert who teaches international law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy, made this clear in an interview discussing Donald Trump’s threat to attack Syria.

There has been no independent international investigation into the alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria on April 7. The details still are far from clear, and the accusations have been made by anti-government opposition groups in an area controlled by the extremist Salafi-jihadist militia Jaish al-Islam.

Jaish al-Islam has used chemical weapons in past attacks, as even Amnesty International has confirmed. This extremist group — which was created at the behest of and bankrolled by the Wahhabi regime in Saudi Arabia — is notorious for carrying out sectarian attacks on civilians, such as putting women from the Muslim Alawite minority in cages.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) made plans to send a fact-finding mission to Syria to investigate the alleged chemical attack, on the ground in Douma.

In fact, the OPCW had just announced that it would begin its work on April 14 — the day after the attack was launched. But the US, UK, and France did not wait for an investigation and instead illegally began bombing Syria.

In case you missed it: In response to media queries, the Spokesperson for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirms that the #OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team is on its way to #Syria and will start its work as of Saturday 14 April 2018. pic.twitter.com/IZUIpg2DsZ — OPCW (@OPCW) April 12, 2018

This is a crime of aggression. It is one of the four “core crimes” recognized by the International Criminal Court — alongside genocide, crime against humanity, and war crimes.

Trump’s strikes were likewise illegal according to US law, as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) promptly pointed out. The attack had no congressional approval, and Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, noted that constitutional law forbids the unilateral use of force except in cases of self-defense, which is not at all applicable here.

Trump’s airstrikes on Syria are illegal without congressional authorization. Hina Shamsi, director of our National Security Project, had this to say: pic.twitter.com/6niQPE25Ri — ACLU (@ACLU) April 14, 2018

And not only is this attack criminal; it is also an extreme manifestation of hypocrisy.

Extreme Hypocrisy – Gaza and Yemen

For weeks, Israel has been massacring unarmed protesters in the illegally besieged Gaza Strip, and the US is blocking any action at the UN (while it provides Israel with $3.8 billion in military aid every year).

Dozens of Palestinian civilians have been killed in three weeks of bloody Israeli crackdowns on the Great March of Return. Thousands of Gazans have been intentionally injured — shot by Israeli soldiers firing live ammunition.

On the same day the US, UK, and France launched their attack on Syria, Israeli forces wounded at least 968 protesters with gunfire and tear gas, according to Palestinian health officials.

But now Donald Trump, Theresa May, and Emmanuel Macron are bombing Syria supposedly to “protect Syrian civilians.” What about the Palestinians next door? Who is going to launch missile strikes on Israel to save them?

Even more egregiously, US-backed Saudi airstrikes are slaughtering Yemeni civilians every single day.

The US, UK, and France are helping Saudi Arabia murder and starve Yemenis as we speak. They have provided crucial assistance to one of the richest countries in the world as it devastated the poorest country in the Middle East, transforming Yemen into the largest humanitarian catastrophe on the planet.

The idea that the US, UK, and France care about Syrian civilians is laughable. It is simply a pretext for aggression.

The alleged chemical attack in Syria was on April 7. (And again, there has been no investigation.)

On April 2, US-backed Saudi airstrikes killed 14 civilians in Yemen.

On April 7 — the day of the alleged chemical attack — US-backed Saudi airstrikes killed 3 civilians in Yemen.

On April 9, US-backed Saudi airstrikes killed 17 Yemenis.

Today — the day of the American-British-French assault on Syria — Saudi airstrikes killed 2 Yemenis.

The alleged chemical attack in Syria was on April 7. There has been no investigation. On April 2, US-backed Saudi airstrikes killed 14 civilians in Yemen.

On April 7, they killed 3.

On April 9, they killed 17.

Today, they killed 2. The US is not bombing Syria to save civilians. pic.twitter.com/QWkqPrtyGx — Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) April 14, 2018

Again, for emphasis: the exact same day that the US began bombing Syria, supposedly to “save civilians,” US-backed Saudi airstrikes killed 2 civilians in Yemen and wounded 2 more civilians.

The US is helping Saudi Arabia kill Yemeni civilians while bombing Syria to “save civilians.”

No one believes this. Because it is not true. The US, UK, and France are not bombing Syria to save civilians. This is a criminal act of aggression.