Western airstrikes on Syria - a turning point

BEIRUT: Unprecedented Western strikes against regime targets in Syria yielded a lot of political chest-thumping but no hope that the seven-year war would end soon or even claim fewer civilian victims. On April 14, the United States, France and Britain fired missiles meant as a response to what the trio of nations said was evidence Damascus had used chemical weapons a week earlier. Meanwhile, international inspectors on Friday had yet to begin their probe at the site of the alleged chemical attack in Douma, amid concerns that its security was not guaranteed and that evidence had been removed.

Purported footage of victims foaming at the mouth after the April 7 attack sparked an outcry and prompted the West to launch its biggest military action yet against President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. A bullish US administration hailed the strikes as a success and argued a clear message had been sent to the Damascus regime that the use of chemical weapons would no longer go unpunished. “If Assad doesn’t get it, it’s going to hurt,” the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said.

French President Emmanuel Macron also claimed that the missiles could have a major diplomatic impact, achieving what analysts saw as an attempt by the West to reclaim a seat at the table after staying aloof. Russia, Damascus’s top ally, was warned of the strikes and many analysts said the Syrian regime had ample time to hide its chemical stockpile. The Western trio at the UN Security Council had emphasized the need to bridge the rift with Russia, which is the main broker in the conflict but whose peace initiatives have also failed. Diplomatic stalemate

Russia has instead reaffirmed its alliance with Turkey and Iran and is still alleging that the April 7 Douma attack was a Western-engineered fabrication to justify strikes. That claim has gained considerable traction in global public opinion thanks to a relentless campaign by Russian media and a network of pro-Russian social media accounts. After a week of trading threats and recriminations, UN ambassadors will try to find some common ground during a three-day retreat starting Friday at a farmhouse in southern Sweden. A voice often drowned out by the bluster that preceded and followed the strikes, was that of Syrian civilians. On a wall in the northern province of Idlib, graffiti artist Aziz al-Asmar had these words for Trump: “Your strike is like a rooster’s fart.”