Nikki Haley
Nikki HaleyReuters

The United States "will respond" to a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria regardless of whether the United Nations Security Council acts or not, the country’s Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said on Monday.

“Only a monster targets civilians and then ensures that there are no ambulances to transfer the wounded. No hospitals to save their lives. No doctors or medicine to ease their pain. I could hold up pictures of all of this killing and suffering for the Council to see, but what would be the point? The monster who was responsible for these attacks has no conscience, not even to even be shocked by pictures of dead children,” Haley told the council, which was meeting to discuss Saturday’s deadly attack in Douma

“The Russian regime, whose hands are all covered in the blood of Syrian children, cannot be ashamed by pictures of its victims. We’ve tried that before. We must not overlook Russia and Iran’s roles in enabling the Assad regime’s murderous destruction.”

“We are beyond appeals to conscience. We have reached the moment when the world must see justice done. History will record this as the moment when the Security Council either discharged its duty or demonstrated its utter and complete failure to protect the people of Syria. Either way, the United States will respond.”

The attack in Douma on Saturday involved Syrian government warplanes, and according to monitoring groups, included the use of sarin nerve gas.

As many as 150 people were reported dead with 1,000 more injured from the suspected chemical weapon attack.

On Sunday, U.S. officials said an initial assessment is that chemical weapons were indeed used in the attack, though they added that the details of the attack are still being evaluated.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday warned the Syrian government it would pay a “big price” for the suspected chemical weapons attack.

On Monday, he condemned the attack and said he would decide on a course of action in response to the attack within the next day or two.