The long-running US and Russian proxy war in Syria has been largely forgotten of late, but suddenly snapped back into international headlines with John Bolton’s warning Assad and Russia this week that Washington will respond with “greater military force” should claims of a Syrian government chemical attack emerge in Idlib.

In response, Russia subsequently warned of a staged “chemical provocation” coming and it appears a war of words is yet again ratcheting up over Syria, which has the very real potential of turning into an actual war.

It fits a familiar pattern on Syria since Russian intervention at the invitation of President Bashar al-Assad in 2015: just when it appears the jihadists are on the brink of final defeat, and as stability is returning after seven years of grinding war, something happens to bring things right back to the brink of global crisis and escalation. 

And now, a senior Russian lawmaker in the Federal Assembly (Duma) has called on his government to draw its own “red lines” while suggesting the use of tactical nuclear weapons against United States forces in Syria.

The Russian official news agency TASS reports Vladimir Gutenev’s shocking wordsspoken on Friday. Gutenev is the first deputy head of the economic policy committee of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.

Gutenev said, “I believe that now Russia has to draw its own ‘red lines.’ The time has come to ponder on variants of asymmetric response to the US, which are now being suggested by experts and are intended not only to offset their sanctions but also to do some retaliatory damage.”

Among such measures, the official named the deployment of tactical nukes, saying that Russia should “follow the US example and start deploying our tactical nuclear weapons in foreign countries.” 

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