This is no time for gentle appeasement

Sir, – I refer to your correspondents’ opinions (Courier, April 17) in which they question the wisdom and moral justification for selective strikes against Syrian targets believed to be compliant in the murderous attacks on civilians.

I do not, myself, believe that the Syrian regime has the capacity to manufacture such lethal weaponry, the likelihood being that it was acquired from Iran, that has waged a battle for the past 50+ years to gain influence and control in the Middle East.

Iran’s ally, the Kremlin, has a well known track record of denial and obfuscation in situations where they are caught red-handed in events contrary to international law and normatives.

And as Russia knows perfectly well, the UN is powerless to intervene because of the inevitable Russian veto in the Security Council.

We have seen this in the annexation of Crimea, the Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine, the shooting down by ground-to-air missile of the Malaysian Airliner, the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the more recent attempted poisonings of the Skripal family.

Surely, for any reasonable person, the balance of probability is Russian/Iranian culpability, and something must be done to stop the Kremlin from being involved in further outrages.

History teaches us appeasement of bullies by non-involvement in retaliation for aggression eventually leads to far greater problems in the future. Derek Farmer. Knightsward Farm, Anstruther.

A Tomahawk missile launched from an American submarine.