U.S. Resorted to military action after Syrian and allied forces breached an established deconfliction zone.
U.S. forces found themselves in the need of carrying out another airstrike on Syria, after Syrian and allied forces decided to breach a deconfliction zone upon they previously agreed on. Lately, the U.S. special forces have been training Syrian opposition troops in an effort to combat ISIS.
Both Syrian and allied forces were previously warned for several times not to enter the deconfliction zone. However, they ignored U.S. orders, which resulted in an unfortunate measure that the U.S. found necessary to take.
“Despite previous warnings, pro-regime forces entered the agreed-upon de-confliction zone with a tank, artillery, anti-aircraft weapons, armed technical vehicles and more than 60 soldiers posing a threat to Coalition and partner forces based at the At Tanf Garrison.The Coalition issued several warning via the de-confliction line prior to destroying two artillery pieces, an anti-aircraft weapon, and damaging a tank.” the Coalition explained in a statement
More than that, the Coalition concluded by mentioning that “the Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime or pro-regime forces but remains ready to defend themselves if pro-regime forces refuse to vacate the de-confliction zone.” Indeed, during most of the Syrian civil war, the U.S. has tried not to adopt military intervention. For example, under the Obama administration, the U.S. chose to arm moderate rebel groups and work it out with Russia in an attempt to destroy Syria’s chemical-weapons stockpile, rather than enacting a military strike.
The airstrike has marked an intensification of U.S. military action against the Assad regime. The human rights violations have sparked concern from the Trump administration. The U.S. Launched its first missiles into Syria since 2011, on April 26, in an attempt to destroy a site of chemical-weapons. After the move, Trump said in a statement that it was a vital national security matter.
Since that event took place, U.S. involvement in the Syrian was has continued to grow. On May 18, the U.S.-led coalition jets carried out a strike that was similar to one from Tuesday.
On the other hand, Russia (allied with Assad), hasn’t been pleased with either one of the U.S. Decisions. The spokeperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the April’s missile strikes were a “violation of international law”, and added that the strikes “will inflict major damage on U.S.-Russian ties.”
