Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, blasted Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies Wednesday in an impassioned and direct speech before the U.N. Security Council.
Mrs. Haley stood up and held photographs of child victims of a reported chemical attack Tuesday in the Idlib province.
She implored members to look at the pictures and rally around an appropriate response.
“There are times when we are compelled to do more than just talk,” Mrs. Haley said.
The speech featured a sharp and direct rebuke of Russia, whose representative sat stone-faced mere feet away, and rhetoric that’s far exceeded President Trump’s own about President Vladimir Putin.
“Russia cannot escape responsibility for this,” she said.
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Mrs. Haley said Syria is led by a man “with no conscience” in President Bashad Assad, whom the Trump administration and other U.S. official blamed for the Tuesday attack that killed at least 70.
But she argued he’s only able to bully the opposition in the country’s long-running civil war because he is propped up by powerful allies.
“The truth is that Assad, Russia and Iran have no interest in peace,” Mrs. Haley said.
“There is one more thing we know,” she added. “We know that if nothing is done, these attacks will continue.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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