Soon, not so soon, not at all: Military options for Syria on the table

Perhaps soon, or not at all, U.S. President Donald Trump said, as it seems imminent military action against the Syrian regime following the Douma chemical attack remains an option backed by France and Britain with Germany backing off from the alliance and

AFTER the April 7 chemical attack in Douma, a district in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, the international community, at least those not aligned with the Bashar Assad regime, is unanimous on the necessity of a response. A red line was crossed as former U.S. President Barack Obama said during his tenure in reference to the employment of chemical weapons during the Syrian conflict. Obama failed to make a move to stop it but his successor President Donald Trump can take action to stop Assad, if only he can drum up the international support for the military strike he vowed on Wednesday.

One main hurdle for the U.S. administration, however, is that a response may turn into a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia, the main backer of the Assad regime along with Iran and a strong opponent to claims that it was the Assad forces who launched the chemical attack that killed at least 43 others and hospitalized many others.

Trump said yesterday that an attack on Syria could take place “very soon or not so soon at all,” arguing he had never signaled the timing for retaliation for the chemical attack that he had suggested was imminent a day earlier. The president made his latest statement in a tweet. On Wednesday, he warned Russia to “get ready” for a missile attack on its ally Syria. But yesterday, Trump tweeted, “Never said when an attack on Syria would take place.”

Russian lawmakers have warned the United States that Moscow would view an airstrike on Syria as a war crime and that it could trigger a direct U.S.-Russian military clash. Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon said any missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and the launching sites targeted — a stark warning of a potential major confrontation.

Trump, who has often said a commander in chief should never broadcast his military intentions, apparently did so himself, tweeting that missiles “will be coming” in response to the attack.

“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria,” Trump wrote. “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!”

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, however, indicated that evidence of what happened was still being studied. At a photo session during a Pentagon meeting with his Dutch counterpart, Mattis was asked by a reporter whether he had seen enough evidence to blame the Syrian government. “We’re still assessing the intelligence, ourselves and our allies,” Mattis said. “We’re still working on this.” Asked whether the U.S. military was ready to conduct an attack in Syria if ordered, Mattis replied, “We stand ready to provide military options if they’re appropriate, as the president determined.”

Trump did not detail what a strike on Syria would look like or whether these would be U.S. missiles. Trump canceled a foreign trip in order to manage a crisis that is testing his vow to stand up to Assad. Shortly after his tweeted warning to Russia, Trump took a more conciliatory tone in lamenting that the U.S.-Russia relationship “is worse now than it has ever been.” There is no reason for this, he wrote, adding that “Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together.” Trump’s administration has sought to show toughness on Russia, with a series of economic and diplomatic actions, including new sanctions last week against government officials and oligarchs. Trump has largely avoided criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin by name, though he singled him out in a tweet over the weekend for supporting Assad.

Meanwhile, Syrian regime forces began evacuating military sites in Damascus and Homs yesterday as an apparent precaution against the possible military strike. The regime also deployed a number of fighter jets to an air base in Latakia on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, while its main ally Russia reportedly deployed warships in the eastern Mediterranean, close to the Syrian coast. For the part of Washington, the U.S. navy has started to deploy warships to the area as well, including the destroyer USS Donald Cook off the coast of Cyprus, west of Syria.