Issue 152, Year 3 www.thearabweekly.com UK £2/ EU €2.50 April 15, 2018 US, allies launch strikes in Syria after gas attack Ed Blanche one-off assault, with no further op- The new wave of attacks marked escalation in the already complex weapons against East Ghouta in erations planned unless Assad car- the second time Trump has ordered Syrian war, possibly involving Israel 2013 that killed some 1,000 people ried out more gas attacks. reprisals against Assad. as well. nearly triggered a US-led interven- Beirut Despite the evident calibration of In April 2017, the US mounted a Trump was backed by French tion of Syria. But then-President the air strikes, Russia warned darkly limited precision strike against a President Emmanuel Macron and Barack Obama settled for a chemical he United States, Britain that there would be “consequences” Syrian air base from where a gas at- British Prime Minister Theresa May, weapons disarmament and inspec- and France have carried for the air and cruise missile raids tack had been launched against the who reportedly dispatched Brit- tion deal rather than send in the out limited air strikes from US, British and French de- town of Khan Sheikhoun, which ish Royal Navy submarines to the US military. The world’s chemical against Syria, hitting what stroyers and submarines deployed killed dozens of civilians. eastern Mediterranean to add cruise weapons watchdog, the Vienna- were identified as three in the eastern Mediterranean. US naval destroyers in the Medi- missile power to the US-led opera- based Organisation for the Prohibi- Tchemical weapons facilities in retal- It remains to be seen what those terranean unleashed a broadside tion. tion of Chemical Weapons, oversaw iation for an alleged chemical weap- might be. But it is widely held that of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Moscow, possibly sensing the handover of 1,300 tons of As- ons attack April 7 on the besieged Moscow does not want a direct con- the air base, reportedly destroying Trump’s hesitancy over the last sad’s chemical weapons stock under town of Douma that killed some 60 frontation with the US and its allies more than 20 combat aircraft, or week, threatened to retaliate against Russian supervision. civilians. in Syria that could endanger Assad about one-fifth of Assad’s air force any US intervention, not just against But Damascus was widely be- The scale of the coalition’s coor- and what is left of his regime. strength at that time. an expected missile broadside but lieved to have retained significant dinated missile assault in the early Details of the air strikes were also wherever they were fired from – quantities of the internationally hours of April 14 local time was scant, but they appear to have in- an unexpectedly new and potential- banned substances, such as sarin clearly restricted to avoid triggering volved a limited number of aircraft. ly dangerous twist in the perplexing gas, and the means to manufacture a confrontation with Russia or Iran, Britain, for instance, provided four Syrian conflict. it. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s key Tornado jets operating from the The scale of the Assad has vowed that he would After the latest Western raids, allies in the complex Syrian war now British air base at Akrotiri on Cyprus coalition’s coordinated recapture “every inch of Syria” and Trump warned that the US response in its eighth year, while degrading across the eastern Mediterranean missile assault was has shown little compunction in to the Assad regime’s chemical his chemical weapons capabilities. from Syria. clearly restricted to avoid how he will achieve that. Starving weapons arsenal was likely to con- The US declared “we have a very According to Western sources, triggering a confrontation out rebel-held pockets under con- tinue. “We are prepared to sustain high confidence that Syria was re- more than 100 coalition missiles stant bombing and shelling is one of this response until the Syrian regime sponsible” for the attack on Dou- were fired during the raids, which with Russia or Iran. his key tactics. stops its use of prohibited chemical ma, but gave no details. “These are lasted for 70 minutes. Using chemical weapons is an- agents,” he said in Washington. crimes of a monster,” US President The targets were a scientific re- Before the new reprisals were other. Donald Trump said. search centre at Barzeh on the out- launched, Trump had appeared to With the fall of Douma, besieged Ed Blanche is a regular contributor Damascus denied it was responsi- skirts of Damascus where Syria be unsure of what punitive action since 2011, Assad once more has to- to The Arab Weekly. He has ble, and their allies in Russia blamed conducts tests for chemical and he should take over the attack on tal control of the capital and its en- covered the Middle East for Britain for staging the attack. biological warfare and two chemical Douma, a rebel-held suburb of Da- virons, a major symbolic victory for many years. The short, sharp Western opera- weapons storage facilities near the mascus, amid fears that any major the hard-line regime. tion appeared to be intended as a central city of Homs. operation could trigger a significant An earlier attack using chemical P2-3, 7 Right-wing populism in Europe puts Muslim communities on edge Justin Salhani longer or were born here funda- German Interior Minister Horst offered rewards for attacking Mus- second world war. mentally feel German and have a Seehofer has said Islam was “not lims or mosques. In Germany, however, the police strong affinity to the country, they part of Germany.” German Chan- In Italy, Muslims struggle to con- seem to have taken notice. They Milan still don’t really feel accepted as cellor Angela Merkel fired back at gregate due to politicians blocking have heavily monitored far-right German, even though many of Seehofer after meeting with Swed- approval to build state-sanctioned groups and are on alert, particular- total of 950 attacks were their families have been here for ish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, mosques. ly after reports of groups infiltrat- perpetrated on Muslims 40 years,” said Jorg Luyken, the saying: “These Muslims are part of This is unlikely to change soon ing the country’s armed services. and mosques in Germa- editor of the Local Germany, a Germany and their religion, Islam, because far-right party the League, “Germans are generally very ny in 2017, government digital English language news net- is just as much a part of Germany.” led by nationalist Matteo Salvini, sensitive about violence against statistics indicate. work. The debate is sure to affect Mus- performed better than predicted in minority groups and are aware of AGermany has Europe’s second Luyken noted the management lims in Germany who say they feel Italy’s elections. the threat that right-wing organisa- largest Muslim population — about of Muslims in Germany has often ostracised by local society, espe- Running on an anti-migrant and tions pose,” Luyken said. “There is 4.7 million people, approximately been outsourced to Turkey. This cially women. anti-Muslim platform, Hungar- considerable surveillance of such 3 million of whom are Turkish has, at times, prevented a coming Anti-Muslim sentiment isn’t ian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s groups, so I think it’s not neces- immigrants or their descendants. together of Muslims with native exclusive to Germany in Europe. right-wing Fidesz party won par- sarily true that the threat has been The German government has been Germans and an understanding of France and the United Kingdom liamentary elections on April 8. neglected.” criticised for failing to integrate its each other. have large Muslim populations His success is seemingly encourag- Muslim population, though right- The issue of Muslim identity in whose members face discrimina- ing populist nativism elsewhere in Justin Salhani is an Arab Weekly wing groups blame immigrants Germany created a political battle tion and alienation. Europe. contributor in Milan, Italy. and minorities for not assimilating. between those who say Islam is a A flyer recently circulated in Right-wing parties and move- “Surveys show that while Mus- part of German society and those the United Kingdom with the ments in Europe are enjoying their lims who have lived in Germany who claim it does not belong. words “Punish a Muslim Day” and best electoral results since the Editorial 6, Page 17 2 April 15, 2018 Cover Story Western strikes mark further escalation in Syrian conflict Simon Speakman Cordall Tunis ussia has promised that US, French and British strikes upon Syrian re- gime positions during the early hours of April R14 would carry “consequences.” A combination of jet fighters and missiles from the western allies targeted three government posi- tions considered complicit in the alleged gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Douma. More than 100 missiles report- edly were launched from ships and manned aircraft during the night in strikes leaders of all three allied states have characterised as target- Three nation ed and limited. strike. None of the allied missiles came French close to the Russian bases at Tartus President and Hmeimim, which are heavily Emmanuel protected by Moscow’s highly de- Macron (L), veloped missile defence system. US President Syrian forces claimed to have shot Donald down the majority of the missiles Trump (C) before they landed, local media and British reported. US Defence Secretary Prime James Mattis said: “Right now, Minister we have no additional attacks Theresa May. planned. This is a one-time shot.” (AFP) However, the secretary’s reas- surances ran contrary to those actions will not be left without out.