Last Thursday, President Trump ordered 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles to be fired on a Syrian airbase. The missiles were a response to a chemical attack that was launched by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime last week which resulted in the death of dozens of people, including children.
The strike killed six people, according to Syrian’s Armed Forces General Command. This marks the first time the US has directly become involved with Syria’s six-year long civil war.
WGBH News Analyst and Founder of the GroundTruth Project Charlie Sennott joined Boston Public Radio to discuss the effectiveness of the strikes and what steps the US should take next.
“I thought this was swift and appropriate. As terrible as military strikes are, they were effective,” Sennott said about Thursday’s strike. “I think it was physically effective. It degraded their airstrip. It took out some of their airplanes and it definitely had physically impact that was not insignificant. This was a precise response to a global outrage. It was much deserved and it was smart to have done it,” he continued.
Sennott noted that the intended message of the strike was not necessary just for Bashar Assad, but was meant to addresses multiple leaders including Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was meeting with Trump at Mar-a-lago when the strike was ordered.
“It was a clear message to [President Xi Jinping] that we, the United states, as President Trump would say, are going to respond when needed, and just so you know we are capable of doing that and will do that when we feel it needed. That of course, is in the context of North Korea and their nuclear program,” said Sennott.
While Sennott sees this initial strike as being effective, he realizes a cohesive plan needs to be put in place if any progress is expected to be made in the region. "A very precise pinprick military strike is not a policy, it is a message,” Sennott said.
Click above to hear Boston Public Radio's interview with Charlie Sennott.
