As Bashar Al Assad's government started to look secure – a sign some parties saw as the start of an end to the civil war in Syria – tension engineered by the Western world escalated against Al Assad, the West charging him with launching a chemical gas raid against civilians in Douma. Despite denials by both Damascus and Moscow, the international community, led by the US and France called for retaliation against the Assad regime. The question is, did Al Assad really shower his nation with Sarin gas? And why? During the last few weeks, the Syrian military forces managed to record a victory over the militants of the Syrian Free Army that dominated the enclave of Douma. This forced them to accept a deal that involved evacuating the town. Then media photos of children suffocating in a Sarin gas attack raised world anger against Al Assad and prompted President Trump, who stated a week ago of his intention to end the US military presence in Syria soon, to vow retaliation against the Assad regime for such a 'crime against humanity'. A few hours later, Israel appeared to take advantage of world anger against the Damascus regime and its supporting camp, to escalate its proxy war against Iran in Syria. It launched air raids against a military base in central Syria. Israel declined to confirm or deny the raids, but Russian and Iranian news services reported that two Israeli F-15 war planes carried out the strike that killed 14 people. The Russian military said the planes had approached from the Mediterranean and then fired missiles from Lebanese airspace. Syria's air defence systems shot down five of the eight missiles fired, according to the Russian news agency, Interfax. Three other missiles, however, hit a Syrian military base known as T4. As has always been the case, Washington made no comment on the Israeli raids. It focused instead on threatening retaliation against both Syria and Russia for the said gas attack on Douma. During the Security Council session that Russia called for to debate the gas raid crisis, the US envoy Nikki Haley lashed out at both Damascus and Moscow. She referred to Moscow as the "Russian regime, whose hands are all covered in the blood of Syrian children". The Russian envoy at the Security Council denied that there had been gas raids. He said that "Russia is being unpardonably threatened" and that Russian investigators had found no evidence of a chemical attack in Douma, and that it had been staged by rebels, trained in carrying out false-flag provocations by US Special Forces. The latest escalation comes at a pivotal time for the US to assist Trump to reconsider his pledge to withdraw forces from Syria. What is more to be feared is that the escalation of tension between the different powers in Syria might turn into a major threat to peace and security far beyond the region as the UN special envoy to Syria recently warned.
