Questionable Western air strikes in Syria
The United States, United Kingdom and France launched air strikes on a number of targets in Syria on April 14, allegedly in response to a chemical attack in the city of Douma, a Damascus suburb. US warships alongside French and UK jet fighters fired over 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles at “civilian and military facilities.” […]
The United States, United Kingdom and France launched air strikes on a number of targets in Syria on April 14, allegedly in response to a chemical attack in the city of Douma, a Damascus suburb. US warships alongside French and UK jet fighters fired over 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles at “civilian and military facilities.” A number Syrian military airfields, industrial and research facilities were hit in the attacks. According to reports, there were no civilian casualties and losses among the Syrian Army.
US President Donald Trump ordered the strikes on Syria in retaliation for the Douma incident despite having only social media content as evidence. The airstrikes came just hours before an Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] team was scheduled to arrive in Douma to determine whether chemical weapons had been used there. Trump said the strikes were meant to deter further chemical attacks which America and its allies said they believed that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces had carried it out. They said the airstrikes were aimed at degrading the chemical arms capabilities of Mr. Assad, who promised to purge Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons after a mass attack in 2013.
Assad has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. Even as the war in Syria exacts a terrible toll on the ground, discussion of the Douma attack, like the international posturing about the war, has been wrapped in a fog of contradiction and confusion. Even before the OPCW inspectors arrived in Syria, the Western allies said they had ample evidence that the Syrian government had dropped a chemical agent on Douma, and that it had used chemical weapons many times during the seven-year civil war. On the other hand Assad, who described the attack as brutal and barbaric, reiterated Damascus’ resolve to “fight and crush terrorism in every inch.” He said the attack “aims at hindering the OPCW mission’s work and preempting its results.” Similarly, Russia considered the strike to be a response to the success of the Syrian Armed Forces in fighting international terrorism and liberating its territory, rather than a response to the alleged chemical attack.
So, much as we deplore the chemical attack in Douma as inhuman and a crime against humanity, we feel the US. -led strikes are an act of aggression against a sovereign state. This aggression will only lead to inflaming tensions in the Middle East and threatens international security. Additionally, we believe the repeated use of chemical weapons in the Syria conflict, a war crime, reflects what could be described as new levels of impunity that threaten respect for international treaties and the rule of law.
Irritatingly, the attack took place on a day when the OPCW special mission was to start working on investigating the Douma incident. This act suggests, as espoused by the Syrians, that the USA is not interested in objectivity in the ongoing investigation.
Furthermore, Russian and Syrian officials have suggested that a chemical attack never occurred in Douma, or that it was staged by rebel forces or Western powers as an excuse for attacking Syria. The Syrian military, with help from its Russian and Iranian allies, this month retook control of Eastern Ghouta, a suburban area that was the last major rebel-held enclave.
Not necessarily disputing that a chemical attack took place in Douma – what needs to be established now are the perpetrators. As we wait for the report of O.P.C.W., we think there’s plausible claim by the Assad regime that it was the U.S.-backed rebels that discharged the poison gas. To buttress this argument is that the Syrian government may not have the motive to conduct the chemical attack on Douma as it holds the momentum and already is winning the war. Assad knows fully well that the use of chemical weapons would attract the wrath of the Western powers. Next time, all should wait to a full report to be in before embarking on morally and legally questionable military action.