GUIDANCE

The Signs, Options and Risks of a U.S. Strike on Syria

Apr 10, 2018 | 23:58 GMT

A photograph taken during a March 23, 2018, bombardment in the rebel-held town of Douma, in eastern Ghouta outside Damascus.

A photograph taken during a March 23, 2018, bombardment in the rebel-held town of Douma, in eastern Ghouta outside Damascus.

(HAMZA AL-AJWEH/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The United States is building a military coalition to deter Syria's use of chemical weapons.
  • This coalition may conduct a broader operation with a bigger target list than the U.S. strikes conducted in April 2017, but it would not be intended to change the civil war's frontlines.
  • Like 2017's strikes, any potential operation will try to avoid Russian casualties and mitigate risk of further political escalation for the coalition.

The United States is building a coalition against Syria to respond to an alleged chemical weapons attack on April 7 against civilians and rebel forces in Douma, near Damascus. The primary objective of an operation against Syria will be to deter the further use of chemical weapons, something that a punitive missile strike launched last April by the United States did only temporarily. This time around, however, a U.S.-led strike against Syria likely would be wider in scope and would aim not only to deter Syria, but also to impair the Syrian government's ability to carry out chemical weapons attacks. But even with a coalition, and even with a bigger operational scope, the same factors that constrained the United States in April 2017 would also constrain a military operation this time....

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