After chemical attack, Turkey renews calls for Assad’s ouster

Much of what has happened in Syria since the April 4 chemical weapons attack that killed more than 70 civilians in the town of Khan Sheikhoun is old wine in old bottles. Though embarrassed by the episode, Russia and Iran, supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is the suspected culprit, have warned the United States not to launch additional missile strikes like those launched April 7 against a regime-held air base. Hoping to deflect the blame from Assad, Moscow and Tehran have called for a “thorough and impartial” investigation of the Khan Sheikhoun massacre.

Meanwhile, the Assad regime has accused the opposition and its sympathizers of carrying out a “false flag” operation, the same accusation it made after the chemical attacks in Ghouta, near Damascus, in August 2013.

It may appear that the US attack against the Shayrat air base is a “game changer” in Syria’s six-year civil war, but in fact, the administration of President Donald Trump appears to have gone back to the position on Assad held by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Although US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said March 30 that the United States' “priority is no longer … getting Assad out,” after Khan Sheikhoun, the Trump administration is now calling regime change in Syria and Assad’s departure “inevitable.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, much like his predecessor, John Kerry, is expected to seek common ground with Russia when he visits Moscow on April 12.