A week ago, Donald Trump’s administration had accepted Bashar al-Assad’s leadership of Syria as a “political reality”. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson remarked: “I think the status and the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.” No change to the long-standing US position of non-intervention against the Ba’athist regime (a stance Trump had supported) seemed likely.
But the horrific chemical weapons attack on Idlib province prompted a renewed round of western soul-searching. As the outrage grew, Trump saw a chance to do what Barack Obama did not and punish Assad. Last night, the US fired cruise missiles on the Syrian airfield from where the sarin gas atrocity was launched. The American response, which consisted of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the guided-missile destroyers USS Ross and Porter in the eastern Mediterranean, took place at 8.40pm eastern standard time (4.40am in Syria). Trump acted without Congressional or UN approval, leading some to question the legal basis for the attack.
Content from our partners
