US Vows to Keep Pressure on Syria as Hawks Urge More Attacks

Turkey: US Attacks Cosmetic If They Don't Impose Regime Change

Following Thursday’s missile attacks against Syria, the Trump Administration has vowed to keep the pressure up against the Syrian government, though exactly what that means means uncertain, with officials sending mixed signals on whether they’re going to militarily impose regime change on Syria or not.

In the meantime, they can expect to hear non-stop heckling from various hawks, demanding more attacks and more aggression as a matter of course, and insisting anything short of that would be taken as a sign of weakness by the international community.

And where there is hawkish sentiment to be expressed, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – SC) won’t be far behind. Graham today insisted that by continuing to carry out airstrikes from the base the United States attacked, Syria was telling President Trump “F you.” He went on to demand 5,000 to 6,000 US ground troops be sent to Syria, both to wipe out ISIS and then to impose regime change therein.

Turkey was one of the first nations to ditch a long-time alliance with Assad in favor of calls for regime change, believing it would be bad for the Kurds to have a Sunni Arab government in power there. Turkish officials are also pushing the US to launch more attacks on Syria, insisting that the US attacks on Thursday are just “cosmetic” if they don’t lead to a full-scale war of regime change.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.