On March 13, President Donald J. Trump ordered a single-night strike on research, storage and strategic assets of the Syrian Government in order to punish Bashar Al-Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons against his own people in the Syrian town of Douma.
The attack itself hasn’t been thoroughly investigated. There are doubts as to whether Assad had any hand to play in the attack.
“If that is the case, then maybe there’s enough reason to go in. But if it wasn’t Trump should rethink what he did and the effects it had on everybody there,” said Delta Student Mariah Diego.
The American end of the strikes consisted of Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from Navy ships off the coast and missiles launched from B-1 Bombers.
The strike was joined by the United States’ major European allies, the United Kingdom and France.
The strike itself was twice as large as the previous one and struck two more targets than the last.
The event soured relations between the United States and Russia further as the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov promised there would be repercussions for the attack and the Kremlin denounced Washington, London and Paris.
The strikes led to Trump being criticized by numerous Democrats, namely House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Republicans alike, noting one strike isn’t a substitute for a concrete Syrian strategy.
Trump was among the most vocal voices against further involvement into Syria even before he had become a political entity.
The strike stoked fears of a potential conflict with Russia, another nuclear-powered state that has intervened in the Syrian civil war on the behalf of the Assad regime.
“We should stay away. Russia is basically on the Syrian side too, so you don’t want to start anything with Russia as well. That would be a big mess up,” said Delta Student Jose Landa.
Trump warned of a potential attack the day before on Twitter prodding Russia to “get ready” as the missiles would be coming.
Landa was surprised Trump followed through.
The strike also brought up whether the United States has an actual role to play in Syria and whether or not the country should simply leave the country in Russia’s care.
Support for humanitarian efforts are still present, but with the multi-sided war more confusing now more than ever, support for military intervention has given way to Russian intervention.