Wait for proof

Lost in the hyper-politicised hullabaloo surrounding recent events in Douma is the fact that US Secretary of Defence James Mattis admitted his government had “no evidence” the Syrian government used the nerve agent sarin against its own people in 2017. Sadly he did so only months after the US missile strike against Syria’s Shayrat airbase.

Investigators Hans Blix, Scott Ritter and Gareth Porter had cast doubt on the US narrative of Assad’s use of sarin in 2017 and are doing so again about Douma.

It would help world peace if Donald Trump and Boris Johnson stopped hyperventilating over every event from Syria to Salisbury before credible evidence has been assembled. (REV DR) JOHN CAMERON

Howard Place, St Andrews The west’s pie-in-the-sky thinking envisages engineering regime change in Damascus while retaining Syria’s secular state structures. It risks triggering a refugee exodus of Biblical proportions from government-controlled areas and the end of Syria’s ancient Christian community.

Their destination will be Europe rather than the USA, Israel or Saudi Arabia. It’s time Europe stood up for itself, even if it upsets Washington, Tel Aviv and Riyadh. YUGO KOVACH Old School House Winterborne Houghton, Dorset