Syria: ruthless business as usual

The joint US-UK-French strikes on chemicals targets in Syria won’t affect the war—but they could damage Trump's image in the region

The Gulf Cooperation Council states applauded when the authorities in Washington, London and Paris agreed on coordinated air and missiles strikes on Syria. But the applause was polite rather than enthusiastic. For while there was relief that the three Western nations had taken military action against the Bashar al-Assad regime, there was disappointment that the strikes were merely a very limited, one-off operation. This was underlined by Donald Trump's "Mission accomplished" Tweet, barely hours after the action was over. In other words, the attacks on the alleged chemicals weapons sites didn't reassure these countries that the American president and his allies have come up with any longer-te