Donald Trump has finally taken a bold step to launch an attack against Syria. The United States fired a total of 59 Tomahawk missiles from two warships and the targets were aircraft and fuel stations in the government-controlled Shayrat airfield in Homs. The warships were USS Porter and USS Ross positioned in the Mediterranean Sea.
It was in retaliation to the chemical attack in Idlib in which at least 80 lives were killed – many of them were women and children.
Justification of the attack
Sky News reports that, in an address to the nation, President Donald Trump has justified the missile strikes.
He sees it as a necessity to maintain to not only maintain the security of the country but to act as a deterrent against the use of chemical weapons. That was one of the reasons for targeting the airbase from where the aircraft took off to carry out the attack.
Trump brought out the point that the previous regimes had failed to rein in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the unrest in Syria had created a refugee crisis that threatens the United States and her allies.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the US strikes revealed that the President will act when he comes across instances where other countries "cross the line". Tillerson also said that Russia is also to blame because it did not comply with a 2013 agreement about securing Syria's chemical weapons.
Reactions of Syria, Russia, and Britain
Any such attack is bound to have repercussions and, the Syrian state TV has described it as an American aggression. The governor of Homs province has indicated that, despite the attack, Syria will not deviate from its policies. The Syrian government denies its role in the Idlib chemical attack while the Russian government feels that apportioning blame at this stage is incorrect – the complete investigation must first be done.
Vladimir Putin has said that the American action would be detrimental to the ties between the two countries and would hinder efforts to create a common platform to fight terrorism. However, the UK government supports the bold step taken by the Donald Trump because such an action can prevent the repetition of chemical attacks.
The present scenario
President Donald Trump has shown that he is willing to tread into territories where others may not dare and the proof is his decision to send missiles to pound an airbase in Syria. He has disturbed the hornet’s nest and, it is difficult to forecast the direction that the six-year-old civil war in Syria will now take. The action by the United States could translate into a confrontation with Russia and Iran who are the main allies of Bashar al-Assad and America will have to face the consequences.
