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Trump confronts the contradictions of his foreign policy rhetoric

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By Dan Balz

President Trump found himself in unfamiliar territory Friday, generally praised by members of the political and foreign policy establishments but attacked from some quarters of Trump nation for seeming to betray the “America First” pledges that carried him to the White House.

Trump’s decision to fire cruise missiles at a Syrian air base in response to Tuesday’s chemical weapons attack against civilians won support from some people he had routinely disparaged over the past year, among them Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Hours before the U.S. attacks, Hillary Clinton had urged just such a response.

But some Trump loyalists saw the president as taking a potentially fateful turn away from what had made him so attractive to his anti-establishment, anti-globalist supporters. Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted, “Missiles flying. [Florida Sen. Marco] Rubio’s happy. McCain’s ecstatic. Hillary’s on board. A complete policy change in 48 hours.” Farther out on the nationalist fringe, Paul Joseph Watson, an editor at Infowars.com, tweeted, “It’s been fun, lads, but the fun is over.” Watson clarified that he was not turning on Trump completely but was off the train with regard to Syria.

There was always a contradiction in Trump’s campaign rhetoric on foreign policy. He was the get-tough leader who would “bomb the hell out of ISIS” and portrayed himself as a dramatic contrast to what he called the weak and ineffective leadership of Barack Obama. But he was also the reluctant interventionist and criticized rivals who advocated deeper military involvement in Syria.

In his speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump promised to be president of this country, not the rest of the world. On Thursday night, Trump ended his address announcing the missile strike with the traditional “God bless America,” and then, after a brief pause, “and the entire world.”

What the U.S. strike reveals about the president’s foreign policy remains unclear. Was this a one-off action, meant only to tell Syrian President Bashar ­
al-Assad not to use chemical weapons again? Or could the strike lead to deeper U.S. involvement in Syria, depending on reactions by the Syrian regime, Russia, Iran or Islamic State forces?

Trump’s sharp turn in a matter of days was so dramatic and unexpected that it produced whiplash among many foreign policy experts. That he could pivot so quickly is a reminder that Trump is a president without a deeply rooted national security philosophy or worldview, someone who was decisively swayed by the terrible images of dead and dying children that were broadcast around the world after the chemical attack.

Obama had drawn a famous “red line” in Syria in 2012, warning Assad against the use of chemical weapons. His failure to take military action after Syria launched a chemical attack in the summer of 2013 marked one of his greatest foreign policy failures and became a symbol of presidential equivocation and weakness.

Notably, Trump was not among those criticizing Obama at the time. Instead, he warned Obama not to take military action, even when chemical weapons had been used. This week, the chemical attack gave Trump an early opportunity to draw a distinction from his predecessor, even if it contradicted the view he stated in 2013.

Among Trump loyalists who had been sharply critical of Obama on this and other issues, the new president’s decision to attack was welcomed as a sign of how significantly things have changed. Conservative talk show host Bill Mitchell tweeted that Trump’s action “obliterated Obama’s eight years of [weakness] in one bold stroke.”

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-confronts-the-contradictions-of-his-foreign-policy-rhetoric/2017/04/07/c1a32dfe-1bc4-11e7-855e-4824bbb5d748_story.html?utm_term=.e4075d878ce8

Syria Update: Warplanes strike Syrian town Khan Sheikhoun hit by suspected chemical weapons attack

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Airstrikes have struck the rebel-held positions in Syria’s Khan Sheikhoun, where a suspected chemical weapons attack left dozens dead. Rising tensions have prompted Britain’s foreign minister to cancel a visit to Moscow.

Fresh airstrikes on Saturday hit the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, where a suspected chemical weapons attack earlier this week killed 87 civilians, including 31 children, independent monitoring groups reported.

At least one woman was killed and another person injured in Saturday’s strikes. The Local Coordination Committees, a local independent monitoring group, said the airstrikes had been conducted by Russian warplanes. However, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights did not identify the nationality of the planes in their report.

Other airstrikes reportedly launched by the US-led coalition against the “Islamic State” killed 15 civilians near Raqqa, the militant group’s de facto capital.

The airstrikes took place a day after the US launched cruise missiles against a Syrian military facility believed to be the launch pad for the chemical weapons attack.

The US missile strikes raised tensions in the Syrian conflict and effectively polarized alliances for and against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

‘Changed the situation fundamentally’

Following the strikes, the UK, along with other NATO nations, issued statements in support of Washington’s unilateral action. British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that he had cancelled his visit to Moscow scheduled for April 10.

“Developments in Syria have changed the situation fundamentally,” Johnson said in a statement.

On the other side, Russia, a key ally for Assad’s regime, has suspended contact on airspace coordination in Syria in response to the US attack.

Vladimir Safronkov, Russia’s deputy envoy to the UN, said on Friday that the US missile strikes undermined attempts to reset US-Russia relations, an aim that US President Donald Trump has pursued since before his electoral victory.

“The United States attacked the territory of sovereign Syria,” Safronkov said during an emergency UN Security Council meeting. “We describe that attack as a flagrant violation of international law and an act of aggression.”

Washington has also launched an investigation into Moscow’s complicity in the suspected chemical weapons attack, allegations which the Kremlin and the Syrian government deny.

Source: DW.com

‘They’re terrified that peace was going to break out’ – Ron Paul on US Syria strike

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“A victory of neo-conservatives” – that’s how Ron Paul, a former member of the US House of Representatives and three-time presidential candidate, described the US strike on Syria, adding that he does not expect peace talks to resume any time soon.

Speaking to RT, Ron Paul said that there is no proof of Damascus’ guilt that could trigger such a rash and violent response from the US.

“I don’t think the evidence is there, at least it hasn’t been presented, and they need a so-called excuse, they worked real hard, our government and their coalition.”

This is not the first time something like this has happened in Syria or elsewhere, Paul said, but now it is convenient to pay attention and react immediately.

“If any of this was true, I don’t know why they couldn’t wait and take a look at it. In 2013, there were similar stories that didn’t go anywhere, because with a little bit of a pause, there was a resistance to it built in our Congress and in the American people. They thought that it was a fraud and nothing like that was happening, and right now, I just can’t think of how it could conceivably be what they claim, because it’s helping ISIS, because it’s helping Al-Qaeda.”

“From my point of view, there was no need to rush. There was no threat to national security. They have to give a reason to do these things,” Paul added.

A factor that contributed to the speedy reaction was of course the US president, the politician told RT.

“I have no idea what his purpose was. Maybe he just didn’t want to hear the debate, because the last time they debated it, they lost. And this time, it was necessary for them to jump onto this, before people came to know what was really going on.”

The Syrian situation now is “a victory for neo-conservatives, who’ve been looking for Assad to go,” Paul said.

“They want to get rid of him, and you have to look for who is involved in that. Unfortunately, they are the ones who are winning out on this, and the radicals, too! There is a bit of hypocrisy going on here, because at one minute we say, well, maybe Assad has to stay, the next day he has to go, and we’re there fighting ISIS and Al-Qaeda. At the same time, what we end up doing is we actually strengthen them! It is a mess.

I don’t believe that our people or the American government should be the policemen of the world, it makes no sense, it causes us more trouble and more grief, it causes us more financial problems, and it’s hardly a way that we could defend our constitutional liberty.”

This policy clearly does not lead to peace, Paul told RT.

“The peace talks have ended now. They’re terrified that peace was going to break out! Al-Qaeda was on the run, peace talks were happening, and all of a sudden, they had to change, and this changes things dramatically! I don’t expect peace talks anytime soon or in the distant future.”

Last but not least, the politician spoke out about the deeper reasons – and potential disastrous consequences – of the latest attack’s timing.

“I was wondering about the fact that the announcement came when Trump was talking to Xi [Jinping, the Chinese president]. And of course, [North] Korea’s high on the list of targets for our president and our administration. It might be a warning: this is what’s going to happen to you if you don’t do what we tell you. I just don’t like us being involved in so many countries, in their internal affairs; I think it’s so detrimental.”

After U.S. Strikes Syrian Air Base, Russians Ask: ‘Where Were Our Vaunted Air Defense Systems?’

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MOSCOW — In confirming the deployment of its S-300 and state-of-the art S-400 missile-defense systems in Syria, the Kremlin boasted six months ago that it had secured the country’s air bases from American cruise missiles.

But after a barrage of U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles hit the Syrian government air base at Shayrat on April 7, where some Russian military personnel were stationed, consternated Russians took to social networks asking: “Where the hell were the vaunted S-400s?”

“Am I the only one who doesn’t understand why our S-400s…. didn’t shoot down the American rockets?” asked one Twitter user.

The Kremlin first deployed the “Triumph” S-400 system in Syria in 2015 after Turkey in November that year shot down a Russian warplane Ankara said had strayed into Turkish airspace. The system uses a package of four different types of missiles to account for various incoming weapons and aircraft: one has a long range of 400 kilometers, and another a range of only 40 kilometers, providing overlapping blanket coverage. The system is capable of downing aircraft, drones, and cruise missiles including Tomahawks, the RIA state news agency reported at the time.

Russian and Western military analysts, however, say that the system was positioned too far away from the Shayrat air base to be effective against the April 7 strike, which used cruise missiles that skim the earth at about five meters off the ground, fly at subsonic speed, and follow their own flight paths.

“All this talk that we have secured the whole of Syrian airspace is artistic whistling,” said Pavel Felgengauer, a Moscow-based military analyst, and suggested this boasting was intended to boost the sale of arms showcased in Syria.

“They certainly can’t [intercept cruise missiles] at that distance from their location. At the very most, they can defend the nearest approach of the base where they are located,” he said.

The S-400 air-defense systems are located at Russia’s air base at Latakia and its naval base at Tartus. The strike, which hit the Shayrat air base near Homs more than 75 kilometers away from the city of Tartus and more than 120 kilometers from Latakia, meant the American cruise missiles were safely out of the Russian air-defense system’s effective range for cruise missiles, he said. “You can more or less defend a perimeter of about 40 kilometers.”

Justin Bronk, a defense analyst at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute, agreed, saying that despite the sophistication of the S-400’s radar — which covers up to 400 kilometers at higher altitudes — the system would encounter problemswith targets at low altitudes farther away. “Any rough terrain between the radar and the flight path of the cruise missiles will prevent that system, in this case at Latakia and Tartus, engaging,” said Bronk.

“Also, while the S-400 is advertised as having an anti-cruise missile capability, it is more geared toward ballistic missiles coming in from very high angles, very quickly, and other tactical aircraft,” he said. “It’s more geared toward those kinds of targets than subsonic, land-skimming missiles.”

US missile strike in Syria: What is known so far about target, victims & reactions

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Syrian army airbase that was hit by a U.S. strike near the city of Homs, Syria, 7 April, 2017. © Mikhail Voskresensky / Sputnik

The US launched a missile strike on a Syrian airbase, killing at least six people, including civilians, and wounding several others. Reactions to the operation continue to roll in, with Russia condemning it while EU countries and others express support.

US President Donald Trump ordered the military strike on an airfield in Shayrat, near Homs, which resulted in a Friday pre-dawn strike in which 59 Tomahawk missiles were deployed.

Six MiG-23 fighter jets were destroyed in the operation, along with a material storage depot, a training facility, a canteen and a radar station, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense (MoD).

However, the airfield’s runway remained intact, according to the MoD, which described the operation’s efficiency as “quite poor.”

Syrian officials have so far confirmed that six people were killed and several others wounded in the operation.

However, the governor of Homs told RT that at least five people had been killed, three of whom were Syrian soldiers. He also stated that at least seven people had been wounded.

Meanwhile, Syria’s SANA news agency has reported nine civilian deaths, including four children.

Global reaction

The office of Syrian President Bashar Assad called the US strike “reckless”,“irresponsible” and “shortsighted,” claiming the motives the strike weren’t based on true facts.

However, the airfield’s runway remained intact, according to the MoD, which described the operation’s efficiency as “quite poor.”

Syrian officials have so far confirmed that six people were killed and several others wounded in the operation.

However, the governor of Homs told RT that at least five people had been killed, three of whom were Syrian soldiers. He also stated that at least seven people had been wounded.

Meanwhile, Syria’s SANA news agency has reported nine civilian deaths, including four children.

Global reaction

The office of Syrian President Bashar Assad called the US strike “reckless”,“irresponsible” and “shortsighted,” claiming the motives the strike weren’t based on true facts.

source: https://www.rt.com/news/383895-us-airstrike-syria-reactions/

Putin slams ‘unacceptable’ accusations over alleged chemical attack in Idlib

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned as unacceptable the “unfounded accusations” about a purported chemical attack in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib earlier this week, calling for an international probe.

During a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, “the two sides exchanged views on the chemical incident that took place on April 4,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin “pointed out that it was unacceptable to make groundless accusations against anyone without conducting a detailed and unbiased investigation.”

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Avigdor Lieberman told Hebrew-language Yedioth Ahronoth daily that he was sure Syrian government forces were behind the “chemical weapons attack.”

Over 80 people were reportedly killed in the suspected chemical incident in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib province on Tuesday. According to the UN children’s fund, at least 27 children were among those killed in the attack.

The United States and its allies have put the blame on the Syrian government.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem has dismissed any accusations that the Syrian army deployed chemical weapons in Idlib.

He told a press conference in Damascus on Thursday that foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorist groups continue stockpiling chemical weapons in the country’s urban and residential areas.

Al-Nusra Front, also known as the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Daesh “and other terrorist organizations continue to store chemical weapons in urban and residential areas,” Muallem said.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic are both investigating the Khan Shaykhun attack.

Muallem said Syria would provide the OPCW and the UN with “intelligence on the transfer of chemical substances from Iraq into Syria, or from Turkey into Syria.”

He said Damascus needs assurances that any fact-finding mission into the Idlib attack would not be politicized, adding that his country’s past experience with international inquiries had not been “encouraging.”

Syria’s biggest dam partially collapses due to SDF-Daesh fight near Raqqa

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Syria’s largest Tabqa Dam located on the Euphrates river has partially collapsed on Sunday as a result of the fighting between armed units of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and militants of Daesh near the city of Raqqa, Sputnik News reports.

Tabqa Dam, which functions primarily as a hydropower plant, suspended service after its control center was damaged by what could have been an airstrike or shelling, a source told Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen, adding that technical experts could not reach the site due to continuing fighting in the area.

The source reminds that Tabqa Dam was built in 1970s with the help of Soviet experts to create Lake Assad, Syria’s biggest reservoir, and to generate hydroelectric power.

Turkish Army attacks Kurdish forces in northern Syria

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By Leith Fadel

BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:50 A.M.) – The Turkish Army has once again attacked the Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, targeting the positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Afrin Canton of northern Aleppo.

According to local activists, the Turkish Army heavily shelled the villages of Deir Ballout, Malaa Khalil, Furfrak, and Qara Baba in the Afrin Canton, causing material damage to several posts around this area.

This is not an isolated incident in northern Syria, as the Turkish Army and their rebel allies have repeatedly attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Afrin Canton.

Unlike the Al-Raqqa Governorate, the U.S. Marines do not have a presence in the Afrin Canton, so the Turkish Army takes advantage of their absence by attacking the Kurdish forces in this region.

Source: https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkish-army-attacks-kurdish-forces-northern-syria/

Moscow summons Israeli diplomat over airstrike in Syria

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed it summoned the Israeli ambassador to Moscow to discuss a mission by Israeli warplanes in Syrian airspace. The incident in question took place near the city of Palmyra last week.

Russia summoned the Israeli Ambassador Gary Koren for questioning, several Russian news outlets reported on Monday.

Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said the country “expressed concern” over the incident on March 17 during which the Israeli military bombed targets inside Syria. Syrian state forces used anti-aircraft weapons in retaliation.

At the time, the Syrian army said it had shot down an Israeli warplane, hit another and forced the rest to flee, but Israel’s military denied that account. Israel said one Syrian missile was intercepted by its Arrow air defense system.

In comments carried by state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday, Bogdanov said Russia demanded that Israel more closely communicate its military plans in the region to avoid such incidents.

Russian troops were reportedly in the targeted region near the famed city of Palmyra, which had once again been captured by Syrian troops from “Islamic State” forces earlier in March.

Israel says Hezbollah targeted

Israel said its planes were targeting a weapons convoy destined for Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group bent on destroying Israel, which is fighting alongside troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

On Sunday, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned Syria not to fire Israeli jets carrying out missions over Syrian territory.

“The next time the Syrians use their air defense systems against our planes we will destroy them without the slightest hesitation,” Lieberman said on Israeli public radio.

Read: Syrian government forces beat back surprise rebel assault in Damascus

International allegiances

Russia is a key ally of Assad. Backing from Moscow has seen the military conflict turn in Assad’s favor in recent months. Russia has also maintained close relations with Israel despite the long-standing animosity between Syria and the Jewish state. Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in 1981, a move never recognized by the international community.

The multisided Syrian war has been going on for more than six years, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and forcing millions to flee their homes. While Israel has mostly kept out of the war, its military has from time to time been reported to have conducted airstrikes within Syria, especially against Hezbollah forces. Israel’s government normally neither confirms nor denies these strikes.

Syria Bomb Islamic State ISIS, Israeli jets strike inside Syria,

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The Israeli military has said it struck several targets inside Syria early Friday morning, an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) statement said, according to CNN report.

Several anti-aircraft missiles were fired at the Israeli jets, the IDF said, including one missile that was shot down by an “aerial defense system.” The statement denied that the mission put Israeli civilians or the aircraft involved at risk.

“At no point was the safety of Israeli civilians or the IAF aircraft compromised,” the statement said, referring to the Israeli air force.

Israel has reportedly struck Syria multiple times in the past, often targeting weapons shipments headed for Hezbollah. The IDF rarely acknowledges these strikes, however, making Friday’s statement very unusual.