What the editorials said

Once again, the Assad regime has shown a “callous contempt for humanity”, said The Guardian. It has now defied international law on “dozens” of occasions since it first deployed the nerve agent sarin five years ago. Yet the Damascus government is not solely to blame. It is Russia’s control of Syria’s western airspace and the Kremlin’s “implacable veto” of “any effective countermeasures” at the UN that allows such acts of barbarity. The confused signals from the White House over its commitment to Syria hardly help, said The Times. Only days before the Douma outrage, Trump was talking of the “rapid withdrawal” of all US troops from Syria, now that the battle with the jihadists of Islamic State is almost won. He should think again. Otherwise, Russia, Turkey and Iran will be left to carve out their own spheres of influence.

The most pressing threat is of a “misunderstanding” between the superpowers that leads to “a military clash”, said The Daily Telegraph. Indeed, the risk is “growing by the day” with embassies stripped of staff as a result of the latest round of titfor-tat diplomatic expulsions. These are “dangerous times” – possibly more dangerous even than the Cold War.