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| As warplanes return to scene of sarin attack, Trump defends missile launch | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| In the quiet streets of Khan Sheikun, people mourned the dead from a sarin attack, bracing for the next raid. At an airbase near Homs, government warplanes roared back into action, their targets unknown. And not far from his golf course in south Florida, the president of the United States cried out a defense on Twitter. | |
| “The reason you don’t generally hit runways,” Donald Trump wrote, “is that they are easy and inexpensive to quickly fix (fill in and top)!” | |
| The president’s exclamation followed a more formal justification of his decision to launch 59 missiles at a Syrian government airbase on Thursday, the first direct attack by the US against Bashar al-Assad after six years of civil war. | |
| Trump sent Congress a letter invoking war powers as the authority behind his order, saying the strike was directed “in the vital national security and foreign policy interests” of the United States. | |
| The missiles were meant “to degrade” Assad’s ability to conduct chemical weapons attacks, Trump wrote, and “to dissuade the Syrian regime from using or proliferating chemical weapons”. | |
| On Saturday, with the airbase in action, warplanes killed a woman and injured one other person in Khan Sheikun, monitoring groups said. It was not immediately clear where the planes came from, although the Syrian government and its Russian allies are the only airforces operating in the area. | |
| The casualties were a bloody reminder that while Trump may have redrawn the US red line on chemical weapons use, there have been no clues to his views on the wider conflict. | |
| The president remained in Florida on Saturday, playing golf and praising the US military. “Congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the United States, and the world, so well in the Syria attack,” he wrote on Twitter. | |
| In Washington, uncertainty reigned over what step, if any, Trump will take next to build on the momentum from the missile strikes. His team has cast the strikes, which targeted the base used to launch the sarin that fell on Khan Sheikun on Tuesday, as a contained response to the specific horror of chemical weapons. | In Washington, uncertainty reigned over what step, if any, Trump will take next to build on the momentum from the missile strikes. His team has cast the strikes, which targeted the base used to launch the sarin that fell on Khan Sheikun on Tuesday, as a contained response to the specific horror of chemical weapons. |
| But Trump’s sudden reversal – from months of stated opposition to foreign entanglements to a dramatic attack, decided within three days – makes it far from clear whether he is in favour of isolation or intervention. | |
| “I am flexible, and I’m proud of that flexibility,” he said this week. | “I am flexible, and I’m proud of that flexibility,” he said this week. |
| A ‘one-time strike’? | |
| A front-page headline in Saturday’s New York Times described “a one-time strike” and quoted military officials as saying “it was never intended to be the leading edge of a broader campaign to dislodge Mr Assad from power, or force a political settlement”. | |
| Just prior to the chemical attack, Trump’s top diplomats were describing Assad’s continued rule as “political reality”. The administration has since ducked questions about whether Trump believes Assad should leave power. | |
| “I think, first and foremost, the president believes that the Syrian government, the Assad regime should, at the minimum, agree to abide by the agreements that they made not to use chemical weapons,” Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Friday, declining to comment on future plans. | |
| “He’s not going to telegraph his next move,” Spicer said in Palm Beach, Florida, where the president held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. | “He’s not going to telegraph his next move,” Spicer said in Palm Beach, Florida, where the president held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. |
| An editorial in the Washington Post suggested a different emphasis. “The administration now appears to understand that the civil war – and the fuel it provides for the Islamic State and other extremists – can never be ended while the Assad regime remains in power,” it argued. | An editorial in the Washington Post suggested a different emphasis. “The administration now appears to understand that the civil war – and the fuel it provides for the Islamic State and other extremists – can never be ended while the Assad regime remains in power,” it argued. |
| The only strategy the White House has been willing to discuss is additional economic sanctions, overseen by Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary. | |
| It is time for all civilised nations to stop the horrors that are taking place in Syria and demand a political solution | It is time for all civilised nations to stop the horrors that are taking place in Syria and demand a political solution |
| The Pentagon has indicated that there are no further plans to move against Assad as the war against Islamic State and other extremists continues, although Nikki Haley, ambassador to the United Nations, did not rule out going beyond the “very measured step” of launching missile strikes. | The Pentagon has indicated that there are no further plans to move against Assad as the war against Islamic State and other extremists continues, although Nikki Haley, ambassador to the United Nations, did not rule out going beyond the “very measured step” of launching missile strikes. |
| “We are prepared to do more,” she told an emergency meeting of the UN security council. “But we hope that will not be necessary. It is time for all civilised nations to stop the horrors that are taking place in Syria and demand a political solution.” | “We are prepared to do more,” she told an emergency meeting of the UN security council. “But we hope that will not be necessary. It is time for all civilised nations to stop the horrors that are taking place in Syria and demand a political solution.” |
| In Washington, Gen Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, held a closed-door meeting with senators on Friday afternoon, apparently focusing on the complexity of a brutal conflict. | In Washington, Gen Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, held a closed-door meeting with senators on Friday afternoon, apparently focusing on the complexity of a brutal conflict. |
| Assad is fighting a fractured opposition dominated by Islamists, many of whom dream of creating a Sunni theocracy. The chaos that engulfed Iraq and Libya after the overthrow of autocratic rulers haunts any proposal to remove the president from power. | Assad is fighting a fractured opposition dominated by Islamists, many of whom dream of creating a Sunni theocracy. The chaos that engulfed Iraq and Libya after the overthrow of autocratic rulers haunts any proposal to remove the president from power. |
| “We don’t have the benefit of a larger strategy,” Senator John Cornyn of Texas told reporters after the session with Dunford. | |
| “We … need a strategy to figure out what is our goals in Syria. Is our goal just to defeat Isis or is our goal to change the regime, and if there is policy to change the regime what comes next?” | “We … need a strategy to figure out what is our goals in Syria. Is our goal just to defeat Isis or is our goal to change the regime, and if there is policy to change the regime what comes next?” |
| Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who have long advocated for decisive action in Syria, called for “a new, comprehensive strategy” to end the Syrian conflict, including safe zones and more support for the “vetted opposition” but starting with more strikes. | Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who have long advocated for decisive action in Syria, called for “a new, comprehensive strategy” to end the Syrian conflict, including safe zones and more support for the “vetted opposition” but starting with more strikes. |
| “The first measure in such a strategy,” they said, “must be to take Assad’s air force – which is responsible not just for the latest chemical weapons attack, but countless atrocities against the Syrian people – completely out of the fight”. | “The first measure in such a strategy,” they said, “must be to take Assad’s air force – which is responsible not just for the latest chemical weapons attack, but countless atrocities against the Syrian people – completely out of the fight”. |
| ‘It had a big impact on me’ | ‘It had a big impact on me’ |
| Trump is unpredictable, with his decision to launch missile strikes apparently driven by a visceral reaction to images from the scene of the chemical attack, of young children foaming at the mouth and lifeless babies on the ground. | |
| “It had a big impact on me,” he told reporters the following day. | “It had a big impact on me,” he told reporters the following day. |
| For rebel groups who have for years demanded more international support in the fight against Assad, the US missile strikes brought limited relief. | For rebel groups who have for years demanded more international support in the fight against Assad, the US missile strikes brought limited relief. |
| Opposition activists said they were happy that at least one brutal weapon had apparently been declared off limits, but pointed out that most of the tens of thousands of civilian victims of the war had died in conventional attacks. | Opposition activists said they were happy that at least one brutal weapon had apparently been declared off limits, but pointed out that most of the tens of thousands of civilian victims of the war had died in conventional attacks. |
| “Ameera Skaf was killed by Assad and Russian warplanes in Doma today,” said activist Abdulkafi al Hamdo, sharing pictures of a toddler he said had been killed on Friday by pro-government forces. | “Ameera Skaf was killed by Assad and Russian warplanes in Doma today,” said activist Abdulkafi al Hamdo, sharing pictures of a toddler he said had been killed on Friday by pro-government forces. |
| “Not only chemical [weapons] kills our children.” | “Not only chemical [weapons] kills our children.” |
| Still, some said they hoped that now Trump had revised his position on Assad, he might be persuaded to intervene further. | Still, some said they hoped that now Trump had revised his position on Assad, he might be persuaded to intervene further. |
| Turkey is among voices calling on the US to push Assad to leave office. It supports opposition groups and has long pushed for the Syrian leader’s ouster. | |
| “If this intervention is limited only to an airbase, if it does not continue and if we don’t remove the regime from heading Syria, then this would remain a cosmetic intervention,” said foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, speaking in the southern city of Antalya. | “If this intervention is limited only to an airbase, if it does not continue and if we don’t remove the regime from heading Syria, then this would remain a cosmetic intervention,” said foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, speaking in the southern city of Antalya. |
| In a sign of how the chemical weapons attack has roiled the region, the influential Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al Sadr, leader of a militia that fought the US occupation of Iraq, added his voice to calls for Assad to step down. | In a sign of how the chemical weapons attack has roiled the region, the influential Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al Sadr, leader of a militia that fought the US occupation of Iraq, added his voice to calls for Assad to step down. |
| “I would consider it fair for President Bashar al-Assad to resign and leave power, allowing the dear people of Syria to avoid the scourge of war and terrorist oppression,” he said in a statement that also demanded Washington and Moscow disengage from the civil war. | “I would consider it fair for President Bashar al-Assad to resign and leave power, allowing the dear people of Syria to avoid the scourge of war and terrorist oppression,” he said in a statement that also demanded Washington and Moscow disengage from the civil war. |
| Russia’s support for Assad and military presence on the ground is the biggest question hanging over Trump’s options for action in Syria. The greatest fear is that miscalculation could bring the two nuclear-armed powers into direct conflict. | Russia’s support for Assad and military presence on the ground is the biggest question hanging over Trump’s options for action in Syria. The greatest fear is that miscalculation could bring the two nuclear-armed powers into direct conflict. |
| Russia has threatened to suspend a hotline the militaries share to avoid accidental clashes in Syria, but US officials have disputed claims that it was already cut off. | |
| The UK foreign minister, Boris Johnson, on Saturday cancelled a planned visit to Moscow. “We deplore Russia’s continued defence of the Assad regime even after the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians,” Johnson said. | The UK foreign minister, Boris Johnson, on Saturday cancelled a planned visit to Moscow. “We deplore Russia’s continued defence of the Assad regime even after the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians,” Johnson said. |
| At the same time, a Russian warship equipped with cruise missiles arrived to join a battlegroup off the coast of Syria. | At the same time, a Russian warship equipped with cruise missiles arrived to join a battlegroup off the coast of Syria. |
| Rex Tillerson, Trump’s secretary of state, is set to travel to Moscow this week for a now critical meeting. He has condemned Russia’s support for “a regime that carries out these types of horrendous attacks on their own people”. Tillerson spoke to his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Saturday. | |
| As Trump’s team pondered his next steps, Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev warned that the US missile strike was “good news for terrorists” and had brought Moscow and Washington to the verge of a “military clash”. | As Trump’s team pondered his next steps, Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev warned that the US missile strike was “good news for terrorists” and had brought Moscow and Washington to the verge of a “military clash”. |