APD Review | U.S. and allies punishes Syria for alleged chemical attack

APD NEWS

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By Liu Yang

Rocket’s red glare lit up the night sky, and bombs burst over the ramparts of the citadel of old Damascus early Saturday, as the United States, along with the United Kingdom and France, launched a punitive campaign against the Syrian government over an alleged chemical weapons attack.

But as U.S. President Donald Trump trumpeted the action as a justified retaliation against the embattled Syrian government in a speech at the White House, the western alliance is still yet to offer any conclusive evidence to support its claim.

The attack marked the second time since Trump took over power that the West flexed its muscles in Syria, with the first taking place in April last year when U.S. warships fired dozens of tomahawks at a military airfield in Central Syria it said supported air raids that carried out chemical attacks.

According to U.S. top brass, the attack this time was aimed at three facilities that supposedly stored or developed chemical weapons, they included a scientific research center in Rural Damascus, a chemical weapon storage west of the central city of Homs, and another target.

The U.S Secretary of Defense James Mattis stressed that this attack was a “one-time shot,” and the United States and its allies were not looking to expand the campaign, but he stopped short of excluding the possibility of further attacks.

The target was selected to minimize civilian casualties, U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford told a press briefing after Trump broke the news.

Dunford tried to further justify the concerted military campaign by saying that three counties acted in unison, highlighting that this was not an “unilateral” aggression as the one that was seen last year.

But the defense has done little to muffle an outcry from the international community. Russia, Syria’s long time supporter which has also deployed forces to Syria to combat extremists, vowed that the attack will be met with consequences.

“We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences,” he said. “All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris. Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible,”

Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said.

China, another United Nations Security Council member which has repeatedly called for a political solution to the Syrian crisis, on Friday called on parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint.

Also noticeably absent in the military action was Germany, which declined to take part in the campaign when asked.

The vocal and silent oppositions from world countries underlined the shaky argument that Washington, London and Paris offered to legitimize their actions were questionable at best.

More than a decade after it launched the Iraq War, the United States has still not produced that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction. Five year have passed since Former U.S. President Barack Obama said Syria crossed his “red line” by using chemical weapons against civilians, but the OPCW, a U.N watchdog, has come to no conclusions after months of investigation. One year has passed since Trump bombarded the Syrian airfield, but the world is no nearer to the truth of what really happened.

It’s no wonder that when Washington decided to repeat its ploy, it found itself more lonesome than ever.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)