UPDATE, 1700 GMT: I spoke further with BBC Radio Foyle on Thursday morning about the dynamics around the Trump Administration’s change in rhetoric on the Assad regime, considering whether this will translate into action such as the establishment of safe zones and a warning to Damascus to halt bombing.

Listen to Discussion


As attention moved on Wednesday night from the Assad regime’s chemical attack in northwest Syria to a possible international response, I spoke at length with Monocle 24’s The Daily.

First, I dissected the “surreal” propaganda of the regime and Russia to set out the reality of the bombing — probably with a hybrid of a nerve agent and chlorine — that killed more than 100 people and injured hundreds in the town of Khan Sheikhoun.

Then presenter Emma North and I considered the shift in US rhetoric towards President Assad, and whether this will mean effective action by Washington, other countries, and the UN.

See also Syria Daily, April 6: Will Trump Administration Act Over Assad’s Chemical Attack?
Syria Daily, April 5: Assad Regime’s Chemical Attack Kills 100+

Listen to discussion from 2:47:

We know that Russia will initially resist pressure to remove Assad. So the question is whether the US will join France, the UK, and many other countries for a political resolution that makes sure that Assad cannot carry out these acts….

We have to accept an unusual reality here, which is that President Trump won’t make the key decision. I know he is nominally in charge, but I don’t think he has a grasp of the issues. What we are asking is whether the national security establishment — the National Security Council, the Pentagon, working with Nikki Haley — takes the initiative.

TOP PHOTO: Father Abdul Hamid Youssef on a bus to bury his twins Ayia and Ahmed, killed with 16 other family members in Tuesday chemical weapons attack