Prez’s threat to strike Syria carries peril
Unintended deaths a risk
President Trump’s threatened retaliatory attack on Syria carries substantial risk — especially if any Russians or Iranians are killed in a missile attack.
But the president tweeted yesterday U.S. missiles would be coming for Syria, and they won’t be intercepted on their way.
“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria,” Trump tweeted. “Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”
Experts warn the powder keg of interests in Syria give targeted strikes on regime bases the potential to backfire.
“The potential peril here is if we kill a Russian, in principle that could lead to an escalation that could be extremely dangerous and pose risks that could outweigh any stake we have in Syria,” said Stephen Biddle, defense analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations.
The impending strike comes as a response to the shelling Saturday of a Syrian rebel stronghold in Douma, a suburb of Damascus, that the World Health Organization said killed at least 70 people and sent 500 others to seek treatment for symptoms of toxic chemical exposure.
Defense Secretary James Mattis said yesterday the U.S. is assessing intelligence on the chemical attack, and added the Pentagon is “ready to provide military options if they’re appropriate, as the president determines.”
The strike would be reminiscent of a Tomahawk cruise missile strike in April 2017 on a Syrian government air base in response to a prior chemical attack.
Another tit-for-tat blow to the regime’s military — devoid of a serious political strategy — is not likely to change much in Syria, according to RAND Corp. defense analyst Colin Clarke.
“A military strike is warranted, but to the extent that it’s not connected to a broader political strategy — and I don’t think it is — then what should we expect out of it?” Clarke said. “We did this a year ago, and it didn’t serve as a deterrent.”
Trump’s threat of a military strike seemed to prompt strong words from a top adviser of Iran’s supreme leader.
“Iran backs Syria in its fight against America and the Zionist regime,” Ali Akbar Velayati, the supreme leader’s adviser, told state television.