U.S. strikes Assad targets; Canada mum on abrupt Syria shift
A ghastly chemical attack appears to be pushing the Syrian civil war toward another turning point, with the new U.S. administration launching a missile strike against the regime of Bashar Assad in a sudden, dramatic shift in policy.
Two American warships launched dozens of rockets at military targets after a nerve-gas attack that killed scores of civilians including children, U.S. officials said late Thursday.
The strike came hours after the new Trump administration signalled a reversal of policy with respect to Assad: that the Syrian leader had lost the legitimacy to govern, he had to go, and an international coalition was being assembled to oust him.
Speaking earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered little hint about Canada’s role in any effort to remove the Syrian strongman. Yet he expressed horror over this week’s attack, which killed more than 80 people.
“This is a war crime and the international community must stand firmly against such things,” Trudeau said Thursday after a day of meetings in New York.
“We condemn in the strongest of terms (these) heinous against civilians, children, by chemical weapons.”
He promised Canada would be involved in the United Nations process to investigate and punish the perpetrators of the chemical attack that killed civilians, as seen in grotesque images that have shocked the world.
The Trump administration was already assigning blame.
After repeatedly expressing disinterest in removing Assad, and frequently declaring that America’s sole interest in Syria was defeating terrorist groups, not toppling its oppressive government, Trump’s team signalled its course correction earlier Thursday.
“I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity... so something should happen,” President Donald Trump said Thursday aboard Air Force One. His secretary of state went further. Rex Tillerson said a coalition-building effort has already begun, with the aim of ousting Assad. He did not specify whether the effort would be primarily diplomatic, military, or both — but he made clear it’s underway.
“There would be no role for (Assad) to govern the Syrian people,” Tillerson said, reversing his own statements of a few days earlier.
Asked whether he was organizing an international coalition, he replied: “Those steps are underway.”
That was an apparent flip-flop from his statement a few days earlier that Assad’s fate was up to the Syrian people. That was before gas was dropped on the city of Khan Sheikhoun, one of the few remaining rebel strongholds.
Some of Tillerson’s critics blamed his laissez-faire statement for emboldening Assad. Yet the Trump administration also blamed past president Barack Obama, who famously declared chemical weapons a red line not to be crossed — then backed down.
It’s unclear whether something else has changed since Obama’s presidency: Russia’s role.
The Kremlin convinced the U.S. in 2013 not to attack, on the promise that it could collect the Syrian chemical arsenal. It has continued to support him, consistently holding off international efforts at regime-change.
That may be eroding — perhaps.