Despite Trump’s ‘Mission accomplished’ in Syria, question raised over US strategy
WASHINGTON: Just over a year ago US President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike against the Syrian government for a chemical weapons attack against its own people.
Trump did the same last Friday, with allies France and Britain, in a response intended to deter Syrian President Bashar al Assad from using chemical weapons again, but which was unlikely to change his grip on power. On Saturday, Trump declared: “Mission accomplished,” a phrase indelibly associated with president George W Bush, who used it in 2003 during the Iraq war and which dogged him for the rest of his presidency.
A chorus of voices across the American political spectrum expressed support for Trump’s latest strikes, but criticised the lack of a broader US Syria strategy that could end the seven-year war — with or without Assad.
Commentators questioned the message behind the latest strike — which signalled that Western allies would not let a chemical weapons attack go without punishment — but demurred about deeper involvement when barrel bombs by the Assad government kill far greater numbers of Syrians.
“To succeed in the long run, we need a comprehensive strategy for Syria and the entire region,” Republican Senator John Mccain said in a statement after the latest strikes.
“Air strikes disconnected from a broader strategy may be necessary, but they alone will not achieve US objectives in the Middle East,” said Mccain, who a year ago called for more aggressive action that would cripple Syria’s military. Trump has made clear he wants to withdraw the roughly 2,000 US troops in Syria involved in the anti-is campaign, and his administration has suspended support for Syrian rebels, evidence of his desire to disengage from Syria.
But he appeared to conflict that message when he said on Saturday that Western allies were prepared to “sustain this response” if Syria does not stop using prohibited chemical weapons.
A US official said that while top aides such as Defence Secretary Jim Mattis had persuaded Trump to avoid the tougher action the president initially wanted, arguing that would have risked escalation with Assad ally Russia, the administration is no closer to crafting a comprehensive strategy on the war in Syria.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump wanted to do heavier damage to Assad’s war machine but ultimately settled on degrading his chemical weapons capability in part because he was reminded that part of his domestic political base was opposed to the United States getting dragged deeper into the Syria quagmire.
“It’s a tough contradiction for him to sort out,” the official said.
While the chemical weapons attack has put Syria fully on Trump’s radar, experts say it’s unlikely to persuade him to stay the course in Syria beyond defeating IS.
Several US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was not a priority for the administration to push out Assad, who has survived with massive aid from allies. “There is no answer to the Assad problem just yet,” said Firas Maksad, Director of the Washington-based Arabia Foundation. “Assad has succeeded, at least for the foreseeable future, and he is capitalising on that.”