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Trump’s Syria strikes: Yea or nay? Twitter is in two minds

April 7, 2017 at 2:42 pm

Earlier this morning, US President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on the Syrian regime’s Shayrat airbase in Syria’s Homs governorate.

According to a press release issued by Trump, the military action came in response to Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s chemical attack on the people of Khan Sheikhoun in the northern opposition-held Idlib governorate, which has killed nearly 100 civilians.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said: “It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread of chemical weapons.”

Trump’s motives were immediately – and rightly – put to question by Twitter users, and so was his strategy.

https://twitter.com/ramaabbadyy/status/850257739250978816

Twitter users also pointed out that Trump himself was against military involvement in Syria, when he urged the Obama administration time and again not to strike Syria and to focus on “making America great again”.

Many were against Trump’s involvement and the notion of the US “policing” the world.

https://twitter.com/jo_bouk/status/850218353889165312

And yet, the strike action enjoyed a lot of support from Syrians and others following the conflict.

Some emphasised that the US has in fact been militarily involved in Syria for years, but the escalation of targeting a Syrian regime airbase was finally “the right target”. Others simply thought that, after six years of conflict, close to 500,000 deaths and millions of refugees, enough was enough.

https://twitter.com/QZakarya/status/850200124680581121

https://twitter.com/Wafa_Zaidan/status/850256258271592448

Translation: “Iran: The US strike will complicate things in Syria / As though Iranian presence in Syria was to preserve the environment. / And are there bigger complications left after a chemical attack.”

https://twitter.com/thewarjournal/status/850228114714107904

https://twitter.com/nowwaat/status/850208378693361664

https://twitter.com/AnarkoFairuzism/status/850245771995656192

The Syria Solidarity campaign said in a statement that it “welcomes and supports any actions in Syria that has the protection of civilians in its core and opposes any actions that fail to do so.” However, they requested further clarifications regarding Trump’s strategy.

“From this perspective, we would like more clarity on the Trump administration’s plan in Syria.”

It is clear that Syrians and supporters of the strike are hoping for an end to the suffering of the Syrian people, but as per the polarising nature of the Syrian conflict, sharp differences remain among those following the conflict on just how to put an end to it.