3 Russian theories on why the US hit Syria
Russian analysts have differing theories on just how and why the United States bombed a Syrian air base.
It looks like the on-again, off-again US-Russia relationship in the Syrian civil war suffered another painful, if not fatal, blow last week when the United States launched cruise missiles at a Syrian regime airfield in retaliation for a gas attack on Syrian civilians.
The US action triggered a predictably harsh reaction in Moscow, which has been calling for a thorough investigation of the April 4 poison gas attack on the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun. The gas attack killed dozens of people and injured hundreds. Syria has denied using chemical weapons in that attack.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s official statement called the April 7 US action “an irresponsible approach that aggravates problems the world is facing.”
The United States fired 59 missiles at Shayrat air base in Homs province. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the attack with the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. “Back then, they at least tried to produce some evidence [that Iraq was producing anthrax]. … Now they didn’t even bother to present facts,” he said.
