Apparently, having forgotten his campaign promises, Donald Trump has recently toughened his foreign policy, especially in Syria, where he went much further than his predecessor, Barack Obama. Instead of re-establishing relationships with all sides of the Syrian conflict to fight against terrorism, he managed to make the situation in Syria even worse.
On April 7, destroyers USS Porter (DDG-78) and USS Ross launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield in Syria’s Homs province from the Eastern Mediterranean. The US strikes particularly targeted the main landing strip, aircraft and fuel stations.
According to Reuters, at a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump confirmed that he had ordered a targeted military strike on the Syrian airfield. He claimed that the strike came as a “response” to the suspected chemical attack in Idlib. In addition, the U.S. President called on all “civilized nations” to join efforts in seeking “to end slaughter and bloodshed” in Syria.
However, not everyone has supported this barbarous attack carried out by the U.S. Navy. It should be mentioned that the order of US President has been seriously criticized.
Marine Le Pen, French National Front (FN) political party leader and a candidate for French 2017 presidential election, has savaged Trump over the strikes that resulted in civilian and military casualties. According to Le Pen,
“it was necessary to wait for the results of an independent international investigation of the suspected chemical attack in Syria’s Khan Sheikhun before carrying out a strike like this.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has also criticized Washington. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, claimed that Tehran was against any unilateral action in Syria.
Moreover, Trump’s order wasn’t supported even inside the United States. According to CNN, a former U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Jennifer Psaki, stated that Syria is a sovereign state and stressed that the U.S. military involvement could be ‘a slippery slope’. Psaki added that Trump had acted without consulting Congress, without clear legal authority and without any coordinated military action by the U.S. partners and allies. She has also criticized Trump for not announcing his plans. According to Psaki, the American people deserved to know what they were signing up for.
On Thursday, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) ripped the Trump administration’s decision to launch an attack on the Syrian airfield. She said that the escalation would empower the terrorists and would likely result in more dead civilians and more refugees.
Her concerns are well-justified. According to Heavy, right after the U.S. massive strikes, ISIS terrorists launched an attack on the positions of the Syrian Army targeting several checkpoints, which were located in a strategic town of Al Furqlus.
Homs Governor Talal Barazi has also confirmed that the U.S. missile strike on the airbase near the Syrian city of Homs killed six people and wounded seven. According to Barazi, the U.S. missiles also fell on a village near the airfield.
So, what is the actual goal of Trump policy in Syria? Contrary to numerous statements, it is most likely that Washington hasn’t rejected the idea of ousting the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power and intends to return to the ‘great game’ in Syria. It is the only way to explain that Trump hasn’t fulfilled any of his promises after having won the elections.
Anna Jaunger is a freelance journalist from Inside Syria Media Center.
