Danger lies in Syria

THE problem of Russia is probably the greatest facing Western powers. It has much to do with the current confrontation over Syria and the survival or otherwise of Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad. We would prefer if the United States had sought a UN resolution before its attack on Syria following the gas attack that had left adults and children dead. Shocking though that act was, President Trump’s decision to go it alone has led to serious differences between Western allies.

This is all the more troublesome because we still do not know exactly what happened in Khan Shaykhun, scene of the attack. What we do know is that Russian forces are still in Syria and Vladimir Putin is not abandoning Assad. This makes any deepening of American or other Western action against him highly complicated.

There is a real risk of direct clashes between Western and Russian forces, but Syria has sophisticated air defences supplied and maintained by Moscow, which make intervention much more dangerous than any attempted since the Cold War.

That is why there is a serious argument for a proper UN-sponsored investigation of Khan Shaykhun, and for keeping all channels open to Moscow.