Image source: IASpaper.net
“The first casualty when war comes is truth."
Search “Syria chemical attack” in Google News and you’ll see mixed sentiment regarding the reported chemical attack in Douma on April 7th. Some adamantly assert that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is responsible for gasing his own people. Russia argues the “White Helmets” staged a chemical attack. Famed British journalist Robert Fisk has even reported that no chemical attack had taken place - victims in the bombing died from oxygen starvation rather than gas. French President Emmanuel Macron conversely claims he has proof the Bashar regime used “at least chlorine” in the attack, but did not release any evidence to the public.
Meanwhile, lack of access to the attack site is only muddying the water. The U.S. claims that Russia and Syria are potentially tampering with evidence at the attack location while preventing UN-backed investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) from accessing the site. However, reports also suggest that the UN’s Department of Safety and Security are actually responsible for blocking the investigators from reaching the site.
From a strategic standpoint, the timing raises questions, too. Only days before the alleged chemical attack in Douma, President Trump, who favored a withdrawal of US troops from Syria, reluctantly agreed to maintain a presence in the country at the recommendation of his advisors. The timing of the chemical attack last April in Idlib, meanwhile, was also strange. It came several months after an announced ceasefire amid ongoing peace talks brokered by Russia. Additionally, Secretary of Defense James Mattis has even recently offered that the U.S. has "no evidence" that the Syrian government used Sarin gas in the Idlib attack. It’s almost as if somebody has been trying to ensure the U.S. maintains a presence in Syria. But then there's also the point that Russia may have coordinated the recent attack to strike back against sanctions imposed several days prior.
The bottom line
It’s difficult to get a clear picture of what’s really happening in Syria. But that’s probably been the case for several years. If truth truly is the first casualty of war, then we are ostensibly already at war, and we've been at war for some time – although the goal and the enemy are not explicitly clear. Battles are currently being fought around the world – in newspaper headlines, television programs, blogs and all sorts of media. Hopefully, we don't see more bombings and more death. Hopefully, the war stops here.