While Syria witnessed warplanes attacking Khan Sheikhoun, a town 50km away from the city of Idlib, early on Tuesday which killed around 80 people, rest of the world watched a seemingly cold-hearted, uncaring President turning into a global humanitarian- the one who we need at this hour of crisis.
President of United States, Donald Trump criticised the attack and told the American people that it is in their “vital national security interest to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons”.
“There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council. Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically,” Trump added.
“It crossed a lot of lines for me. When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies, with a chemical gas that is so lethal – people were shocked to hear what gas it was. That crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line, many, many lines,” Trump said sternly on being asked if the chemical weapons attack on Khan Sheikhun had crossed a red line. And he backed his statements by launching 59 Tomahawk missiles on late Thursday which damaged the Syrian airbase badly.
The American ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, claimed that the US “took a very measured step” and added that “we are prepared to do more”. She also said that Iran and Russia bore “heavy responsibility” for the chemical attack, either by allowing Assad to use such weapons or through “incompetent” oversight of their ally’s obligations. “The world is waiting for Russia to reconsider its misplaced alliance with Bashar al-Assad,” she said. “The United States will no longer wait.”
While Trump’s action has gained immense support from countries like Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the European Union, it has also raised many questions over the future of the US-Russia relationship.
While Assad’s office on Friday called the American airstrikes a “disgraceful act that can only be described as shortsightedness and political and military blindness to reality”, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned it as “an aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law.” He said in a statement that President Donald Trump ordered the strikes under a “far-fetched pretext.”
The UN deputy ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov has warned that the strike will be followed by “extremely serious” consequences. The Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev claimed that Trump’s action has “completely ruined relations”. Peskov also said that the risk of a direct collision between the US and Russia in Syria has “significantly increased”.
Though Russia has denied all the reports of the chemical attack as a “factual misinformation” and claimed that the gas might have leaked from the rebels’ own chemical weapons depot, its military has, at the same time, announced that it would bolster and increase the effectiveness of Assad’s air defenses.
Though Trump in an emotional statement on Wednesday said that the gas attack has completely changed his attitude toward Syria and Assad, it is highly unlikely that the reasons for Trump’s actions were solely emotional. Even the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson denied it and said that he do not view the strike as a result of an emotional outburst.
Far too many factors other than an emotional reaction have compelled Trump to sway from his original “stay-out” mantra. President Barack Obama drew heavy criticism from many important Republicans and the international community for his inaction on Syria back in 2013. Ironically Trump who himself was against the military strikes in 2013, has gone against himself in 2017 and this action might cost him his relations with Putin and Russia.
While after the strikes, Trump has emerged as the new messiah of the world and his response to Tuesday’s sarin gas attack in Idlib was absolutely heartfelt and entirely understandable, let’s not forget that he is the same guy who, during a rally in New Hampshire in 2016, said about the Syrian refugees: “I can look in their faces and say ‘You can’t come.’ I’ll look them in the face.”
Also, the strong bond between Syria and Russia is no secret. It is a well-known fact that it was Russia which came to Assad’s rescue when he was on the verge of being demised during the Syrian revolt in 2014. Hence, it’s unlikely that Russia will ever turn it’s back on Syria, no matter what.
Thus, it remains to be seen if Trump’s recent decision to strike the Syrian airbase will sour the ties between the Trump and Putin or is it just an attempt by the US to put an end to all the US-Russia collaboration theories and mislead the international community.
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