If the attack of the Assad regime on civilians in the suburb of Damascus, which is reported, does take place - that is, the Syrians were thrown to the head by something stronger than chlorine - then this is not just a massacre typical for an extremist government. Then it is a sign of complete contempt for the United States and a real challenge to the Trump administration.
In a traditionally crude cynical manner, Bashar al-Assad relies on the latest public statements by Donald Trump about the desire to quickly withdraw from Syria. Why would somebody (in Assad's opinion) who wants to leave Syria, want to seriously react to military operations using chemical weapons, especially when the regular use of military chlorine has long been ignored? For Assad, this can be a great opportunity to surrender to your addiction. The more defenseless the goal, the greater the appetite of Assad to the intimidating property of chemical compounds.
A year ago, the United States used military force in response to the use of the nasal agent sarin against civilians in the city of Khan-Sheikhun. Zarin was one of the substances that the regime had to deal with for a long time in accordance with the agreement concluded by Russia after the previous US President Barack Obama announced the red line in 2013. Although the result of this agreement was the export from Syria of a large number of prohibited substances, it seems that they were not exported all.
The US response against the air base in Al-Shayrat in April 2017 (where the lethal chemical attack began) seemed to convince Assad - at least until recently - that he should refrain from applying sarin. Noting, however, that the United States characterized this attack with cruise missiles as a deterrent to the use of chemical weapons, Assad defiantly and successfully tested this deterrent by the traditional use of military chlorine against civilians. At the Munich Security Conference-2018, US National Security Adviser Herbert McMaster admitted that deterrence does not work.
President Trump may well want to get out of Syria as soon as possible. But, like his predecessor, he said that chemical weapons - beyond the permissible. And he probably knows that his predecessor learned a hard lesson: what is happening in Syria does not remain in Syria.
If the reports about the use of the mortal reagent are true, Bashar al-Assad praised Donald Trump and decided that he can do what he wants, when he wants, where he wants, what he wants, and against the one he wants. There is no doubt that the US Department of Defense, responding to the loud rhetoric of the Commander-in-Chief, has prepared goals in the event of such extraordinary circumstances. Do not doubt the willingness of the United States to back up its words with the cases.
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