“No child of god should ever suffer such harm. Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. .. Tonight I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end this slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.”
And the attack was ordered at the time, on those Syrians who were already dying because of a chemical attack, by the missiles, by the rebels, by the forces, by ISIS. You name it and Syrians had been facing the atrocities. This US strike on Syria on Thursday only served as the increase in the confusion regarding who is who and why such treacherous things are happening?
Sometimes it feels as if we – the people the earth – are watching Game of Thornes in real.
After establishing the basic facts as to who is who in this real life drama; let’s have an overview of what has happened in the last week in Syria.
We all know that over the past few months Europe and the US have raised issues concerning Syrian refugees. There are bans and racial attacks against refugees. Those who are inside Syria were killed and attacked by the ‘forces’ and ‘rebels’. And to worsen the events, last week, ‘people’ have suffered from the chemical weapons attack. The released footage of the victims invited severe reaction from the world.
The US Reaction
Since 2011, this is the first time that the US has ordered a direct assault on the Damascus government n their apparently severe and active response to the use of chemical weapons, especially against children. In total 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired on Thursday evening at the Syrian airfield. Apparently, the appeal was made by President Trump to “all the civilized nations” to support his orders.
Defense officials termed this strike as a “one-off” and not a full throttle attack. And of course, “As always, the U.S. took extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties and to comply with the Law of Armed Conflict.” According to reports, almost 100 people got killed.
The United Nations
Prior the American strike, Kim Won-soo, who is the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, stated if the reports get confirmed then this chemical attack would be the largest in the history of the conflict.
Later on Aril 5th, the Emergency UN Security Council Meeting on Chemical Weapons in Syria Confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian government against their people. The US Ambassador Nikki Haley condemned the chemical attack by showing the pictures of victims and said “we cannot close our minds to our responsibility to act.’ These remarks were followed by the US strike next day, that is, Thursday.
Syrian Response
The Syrian FM in an official statement refuted all the US accusations of chemical attacking its own people. “I reiterate that our Syrian Arab Army hasn’t and will not use chemical weapons on the common people, and also will not use it on terrorists,” said Walid al-Moallem.
Russian Response
On Wednesday after the chemical weapons attack, Russian Defense minister said that the explosion was caused in the stock of chemical weapons owned by the rebels. The spokesperson also reiterated that Russia will continue to support the Syrian government’s efforts against the terrorism. Furthermore, Russia has also warned of “negative consequences” if the US strike Syria.
(Ironically Hillary Clinton have stated that the US has supported and trained the “moderate rebels” to fight a war against their enemies. And this training also included handling the chemical weapons).
Does this war of words add to the already existing confusion? Yes, it does.
Who was responsible for the chemical weapon attack? There is no concrete evidence.
Which side is speaking the truth? It is not clear.
Through these myriads of words and strikes, the only party at the losing end are the innocent people. Any member of ‘civilized nation’ taking any solid initiative; cannot be seen. The same thing was stated by Russian representative to UN Security Council that all the members are simply accusing the others and no one is taking any step to resolve the issue.
As has been mentioned earlier that the US was hesitant to engage in the strikes directly but the last Thursday this also happened as can be seen in this video.
Amazingly the world reacted differently to the US strike. Do we see some pattern here?
Yes GOT style is being observed yet again. Kill him. Destroy this. Blame them. Conspire against that.
But does not it seem like a recipe for a third world war in the making? Is world war III coming?
Who can answer the following simple questions?
Who was the rebel against the Syrian government in 2011?
Who supported the rebels?
Why Iran and Saudi Arabia got themselves involved in this civil upheaval?
Why was the Syrian government unable to curb the upheaval at that time?
How was ISIS created?
Why the US supported and trained the rebels?
Why were the NATO forces not able to wipe out ISIS during their strikes?
Why Russia directly entered this quagmire of war in 2015?
This one strike by the US has brought all these questions into limelight yet again, along with the opposing reactions from different countries.
Let’s review the world’s reaction to the US strike:
Syrian Armed Rebels
The armed rebels welcomed the strike saying any surgical strike that would deter the Assad regime is very helpful to stop him from killing innocent civilians. “They are first good steps but we would like them to be part of a bigger strategy that would put an end to the mass killing,” stated their leader. And we must keep in mind that these rebels are backed by the Gulf States.
Russian Response
The Kremlin forcefully condemned the US strike and called it “an act of aggression against a sovereign nation”. It was also said that it was the “violation of the norms of international law and on a made-up up pretext.” Such strikes only become an ‘obstacle’ in the way to international efforts in combating ISIS.
As a direct response to the strikes, the Kremlin reported, “Moscow was suspending a memorandum with the US that prevented incidents and ensured flight safety.”
Such an act also raises more questions as it was not NATO or UN-led attack. How could the US attack another sovereign nation just by looking at the photos of the victims?
Even within the USA the questions were raised against this strike.
President waging military action against Syria without a vote of Congress? Unconstitutional.
Assad is a brutal dictator who must be held account for atrocities. But the President’s failure to seek congressional approval is unlawful
Glad our arrogant Pres. is enjoying his taxpayer funded golf outing after announcing the US should take military action against Syria
The UK’s Response
As an ally, the UK government appreciated the strike and called it an ‘appropriate response as Assad’s regime needed a lesson. The same appreciation was given by Australia, France, Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Just by observing the surface level facts can we say that Trump has started World War III or is it just that all the involved parties are playing the games of their own benefits?
Also Read: CPEC – A Dream or Reality?
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