The US missile strike on the airbase in Syrian Homs was a demonstration step: in fact, it is Washington's bid for its sole decision-making regarding its actions in Syria, the claim for 'independence' from the opinion of other members of the world community and the UN, the experts Andrei Baklanov and Viktor Litovkin said, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza.
This act of undisguised aggression by the United States is a world-scale event, the deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association, Andrey Baklanov, explained.
"The strike was launched on the basis of an absolutely false pretext, because it was confirmed at an international level that Damascus has no chemical weapons. Donald Trump intends to firmly state that the rules of the game are determined by the US, the rest are either notified, like in the case with the Russian side, or generally ignored, like in the case with the UN, although all strikes must be coordinated with the Security Council," he said.
The expert warned that the US move could have a very long-term negative effect on the fight against international terrorism. "An unmotivated blow to an independent country can provoke retaliatory actions on the part of those who believe that the actions of the US are aggression," Baklanov specified.
"I think Trump just wanted to show that the United States will seek to play the most serious role in the development of the situation around Syria, and the role of the observer does not suit them already," the deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association noted.
According to him, the situation in the post-war history that has developed as a result of the US strike has only two analogues: the Caribbean crisis and the military and political Berlin Crisis of 1961.
The further development of the crisis depends on international reaction. "If the world community allows the US to continue acting in the same way, it will start to apply new practice everywhere. If an adequate and severe warning is made, which will be taken seriously, it will remain a one-time attempt," Andrei Baklanov said.
A military observer of the TASS news agency, retired Colonel Viktor Litovkin, noted that this event seriously hinders the fight against terrorists in Syria. "The US demonstrated with this blow that it ignores international law, the decisions of the UN Security Council and the UN itself. And secondly, it showed that they take the side of the terrorists, with whom they are fighting to overthrow Bashar Assad. For all six years of the civil war in Syria, they were an the side of terrorists, but carefully concealed it, counting to overthrow Bashar Assad by the hands of the so-called opposition," the expert said.
According to him, when it became clear that the goal cannot be achieved this way, Washington applied tactics of using unreliable intelligence information, which tomorrow will be disproved. "They specifically do it to prove that the United States is the one and only world policeman, chief magistrate, investigator and even executioner," the military observer said.
The expert warned that other moves would follow the blow, for example, small ground operations. "The US is trying to seize the initiative of Russia in the Middle East and demonstrate that it is currently commanding a parade in this area, and, moreover, that it is the only one which can make decisions without looking back at anyone," Viktor Litovkin concluded.
