‘Pinpoint’ Syria strikes spark mixed response

Targeted air strikes by the US, UK and France on Syria have been met with mixed reactions.

Former British Army head Lord Dannatt said it was “wholly right” Syria was subject to sanctions following the “appalling” use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.

Inaction, he said, would have made the West look weak, adding: “The Prime Minister... deserves our congratulations for having the moral courage to do the right thing at the right time. Always seeking approval from parliament is a recipe for inaction.”

The next step, he adds, is for Britain to play its part in getting all parties to meet “around the conference table” in Geneva and put a stop to the Syrian civil war.

Mark Almond, director of Oxford’s Crisis Research Institute, questioned whether the “pinpoint precision” of the air strikes had eased the threat of a wider conflict with the likes of Russia and Iran, or simply made it worse.

“Bad relations could easily encourage a reckless Russian freebooter, prompted and paid by Iran, to try his luck getting revenge on the pockets of 0 Former British Army chief Lord Dannatt: ‘Wholly right’ US and British forces operating in eastern Syria,” he wrote in a national newspaper.

“Britain is more exposed to potential revenge attacks, despite only four Tornados taking part in the strikes, because they flew from Akrotiri in Cyprus, so close to Syria and to Lebanon.”

Counter-terrorism and defence expert Professor Michael Clarke, a British academic who specialises in defence studies, warned that the result of British involvement in strikes on Syria could be cyber warfare.

He said an attack could be imminent in the next two or three weeks.

“I suspect Russia will choose not to respond in military terms, but cyber warfare is highly likely,” he said.