U.S. officials got all the confirmation needed to strike Syria for using some type of sarin-laced chlorine barrel bomb in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus Saturday, April 7. Trump warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad April 7, 2017, firing 59 Tomahawk Cruise missiles at Syria’s Shayrat airbase, cratering the runway in response to an April 4 chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, killing 58, injuring 300. Trump put al-Assad on notice that any more chemical attacks would be met with a more forceful response, something facing President Donald Trump today. Coordinating with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emanuel Macron, Trump announced today that a strike is coming at his choosing, stopping short of saying when. Trump’s Western allies are fed up with Russia going to battle for the al-Assad regime, especially knowing its use of chemical weapons.
Getting as much battlefield evidence as necessary to prove another Syrian chemical attack, its didn’t take much for Trump to convince the U.K, France and other Western allies to take a stand against chemical weapons. Al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons violates the Jan. 13, 1993 Chemical Weapons Ban, originally put into place in 1925 in the wake of Germany’s use of chemical weapons in WW I. Officials from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] wanted to enter Douma to perform chemical weapons tests to prove al-Assad’s use of weapons of mass destruction. Syria was blocking OPCW officials from reaching the contaminated sites in Douma where at least 42 men, women and children died of asphyxiation April 7. With chemical weapons used 33 times by Syria since the war began March 15, 2011, Syria and Russia’s denials have zero credibility.
Trump’s response to Syria latest use of chemical weapons comes with a more draconic price than last year’s Cruise Missile strike on Syria’s Shayrat airfield. While Russia warned today of severe consequences should the U.S. attack, Trump’s showed no signs of backing down. Accused by the press and Democrats of colluding with Russia to win the 2016 election, Trump defies the narrative poised to strike Syria, regardless of the repercussions with Russia. Russia’s Lebanon Amb. Alexander Zasypkin warned the U.S. today that Russia will not only shoot down incoming missiles, it will take out missile launch sites. Fears of a shooting war with Russia has given Russian President Vladimir Putin free reign to defend al-Assad for the past three years from a determined Saudi-funded proxy war. Saudi Arabia’s 56-year-old Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said The Kingdom would not give up its fight against al-Assad.
Weighing his options, Trump knows that he can’t respond like he did last year with a largely throwaway Cruise missile attack. If he’s to be successful in stopping the Syrian military from more chemical attacks, Trump must paralyze al-Assad comman-and-control facilities in Damascus. Whatever the Russian threats, Trump needs to keep his eye on the ball of neutralizing al-Assad’s capacity to wage war, especially with chemical weapons “We have a lot of options, militarily,” said Trump. And we’ll be letting you know pretty soon—probably after the fact,” refusing to tip his hand to the press. Defying the press narrative, Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was partially responsible for the chemical attacks. “Yeah, he may, and if he does, it’s going to be very tough. Everybody is going to pay a price,” Trump said, referring to who’s responsible for recent poison gas attacks.
Syria’s past use of chemical weapons, while denied by al-Assad, doesn’t give the president much wiggle room when it comes to a response. If this were the first rodeo, Trump could slap Syria—and Moscow—on the wrist. But because it comes after last year’s Cruise missile strike, al-Assad will have to pay a big price. Weighing threats from Russia, Trump must re-establish the U.S. redline, something breached when former President Barack Obama failed to intervene in the Aug. 21, 2013 after al-Assad hit Eastern Ghouta with a Sarin gas attack, killing at least 291, injuring 3,600. U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley told the U.N. Security Council yesterday that Russia had “blood of Syrian children” on its hands. Russian and Syrian officials said that no chemicals were found in Douma where the alleged attack took place April 7. Russia’s U.N. Amb. Vassily Nebenzia revealed the truth.
Warning of “grave consequences” if the U.S. attacks Syria, Nebenzia said the chemical attack was “staged,” meaning it happened but had nothing to do with Russia or Syria. If that were true, why didn’t Russian or Syrian officials find any evidence of chemical residue. Russia and Syria can’t have it both ways: (a) denying that a chemical attack took place, while, at the same time, (b) admitting one was “staged.” Syria’s track record of using chemical weapons points all fingers at Damscus, despite all the denials. “We condemn their use, at any time and under any circumstances,” said Syrian Envoy Bashar Jaafar, denying Syria has any chemical weapons. If you listen to Putin, al-Assad and other rogue dictators, they never do anything wrong, only blame the West for why their people suffer. Trump’s imminent military intervention in Syria sends more a message to Putin than al-Assad.
