Thursday, April 6, President trump gave the order to carry out rocket attacks on the Syrian army. This is a very sharp and risky reaction to the use of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of chemical weapons against his own people. In a long official notes, which were issued by U.S. government agencies on Thursday evening and with whom I was able to see, the administration explained, than it was guided, ordering him to conduct these strikes, and the choices now confronting Russia.
It was assumed that these documents will be used as responses to the various questions of the journalists, and their content had been agreed between the departments. They say that the United States conducted a series of missile strikes, during which 59 high-precision cruise missiles “Tomahawk” was released at the air base Syrian government forces Shirt. According to the administration, this base connected with the implementation of the program of chemical weapons of the Syrian regime and is directly related to the attack in Idlib, which occurred on Tuesday, April 4.
“We have high confidence to conclude that the attack with chemical weapons earlier this week, was conducted from that airbase by means of aviation and under orders of the Assad regime, — the document says the administration. — With the same high degree of confidence we believe that the Assad regime used poison nerve action, similar to sarin. As you know, Damascus and Moscow have assured us that the chemical weapon was destroyed.”
In this document the attacks of the Assad regime against the Syrian civilians in Idlib and Hama were called manifestations of the “blatant cruelty” that has attracted the world’s attention to “the ongoing massacres” in Syria and to “worrying escalation” of the use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians in the last few years.
In his first statements the US administration has not explained what the laws of the United States gave her the right to use force in Syria, but she referred to the repeated violations of international law by the Syrian regime. On Thursday evening the legal Department of the White house made a further statement in which he provided more specific arguments of a legal nature.
Explaining the decision to put the missile attacks, the administration refers to Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which States that the President has the right to protect the national interests of the United States. In this case the national interest of the United States is to “maintain regional stability, which threatens the use of chemical weapons”.
The administration of the trump argues that such a justification is no different from the justification of the use of force in Libya, which in 2011 proposed by the Obama administration.
“A resolution from Congress is not required — it is told in the document. — Missile attacks, the U.S. was a justifiable use of force owing to several factors, including the need to maintain regional stability, prevent the use of chemical weapons and to protect civilian populations from crimes against humanity.”
According to the administration, Russia is trying to convince the international community doubt concerning who is responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Syrian citizens. The administration also rejects the statements of the Russian government that the recent attack was directed against the chemical weapons storage belonging to the opposition. “It’s a completely unbelievable statement insulting those innocent people who paid with their lives, — the document says. — Russia tries to convince everyone a number of false ideas that only support the Assad regime and its supporters. The same thing she tried to do after the attack on the humanitarian convoy of the UN in the North of Aleppo, which occurred in September of last year, and after the use of chemical weapons in ghouta in 2013. Russia does so after each new atrocity committed by the regime”.
In this document, the Russian government is accused of violating the terms of the agreement, which it signed in 2013 with the Obama administration after the attacks of the regime using chemical weapons. Now, the United States insists that Russia made a choice: either pressure on Assad, or accept its diplomatic impotence.
“Russia faces a choice: either she takes responsibility for the fact that Assad has complied with the conditions on the transfer of all stocks of chemical weapons that Russia promised to achieve, or it admits its inability to control Assad, the document says. — Russia should change its position, if we want the Syrian conflict was resolved. And for all of humanity needed to be addressed”.
In this document the government of Iran also criticized for its longstanding support and assistance to the brutal Syrian dictator. According to this document, the Iranian army, the Shiite groups, Hezbollah and other allies played a key role in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Syrians.
The administration’s trump claims that the brutality of the Assad regime and its decision to use chemical weapons “represent a clear threat to regional stability and security, and national security interests of the United States and our allies.”
The actions of the Assad led to the rise of terrorist groups such as Islamic state and al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia — approx. ed.), the displacement of millions of Syrians and destabilize the region, as stated in the document. In its final part the following conclusions: “the Use of weapons of mass destruction by any actor lowers the bar for all those who may try to follow his example, and threatens the international legal regime that prohibits the use of chemical weapons”.
This document clearly demonstrates how a trump administration sees Syria, and why she decided to conduct missile strikes, but it still left some key questions unanswered. And chief among them — what will happen next.
