News Analysis: Trump orders Syria strike to send message to U.S. enemies: experts

The airstrike at Syria ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump was a bid to send a message to U.S. enemies, especially the terror group Islamic State (IS), U.S. experts said.

On Thursday, Trump ordered the U.S. military to strike an airbase in Syria with several dozen Tomahawk missiles.

The strike occurred after the U.S. accused Syrian government of attacking civilians with chemical weapons on Tuesday. The target, Shayrat airfield, was believed by Washington to be the base from which Syrian warplanes carried out the chemical attack, which killed more than 70 people and wounded scores of others in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

U.S. experts said the action was intended to send a message to U.S. enemies that the new president is breaking from what critics have called the hands-off foreign policy of former President Barack Obama.

"The U.S. has a mission in the region of defeating ISIS, stabilizing Iraq and stabilizing the refugee population. The message is stay out of our way," James Carafano, a senior analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told Xinhua.

Carafano was referring to the murderous terror group IS, which has carried out brutal attacks in Europe, and has overtaken vast swaths of territory in the Middle East.

Trump has repeatedly said he would defeat IS, and has reiterated, on numerous occasions, criticisms that Obama has treated IS with kid gloves.

Wayne White, former deputy director of the State Department's Middle East Intelligence Office, told Xinhua that "the message will be interpreted as 'no more chemical attacks.' However, the Russians, (Syrian President Bashar) al-Assad, Iranians and Hezbollah may well up the ante by going all out to increase conventional artillery and bombing attacks on much the same targets."

"I hope I'm wrong, but if Trump expects pro-Syrian regime forces to simply take (the attack) and not somehow snub their noses at him, he probably will be disappointed," White said.

Indeed, the question many pundits and analysts are now asking is whether the situation will escalate.

The Syria strike seemed intended to be a limited one, and occurred late at night when most people working at the base would have gone home for the day. Thus, casualties are likely to be smaller than had the attack occurred during the day, experts noted.

But White said the danger of escalation is inherent.

"The Russians could increase their own naval presence offshore, air assets and assistance on land, with Iran sending more troops," he said.

"If Trump hits them again in reaction to an increased pace of attacks against Western-supported rebels, pro-government forces (in Syria) can be expected to simply hit the rebels even harder-just not with chemicals," White said.

He said he doubts Trump would "want to dive in likewise militarily to counter them," he said.

Carafano said he doubts the situation will escalate.

"The strike was proportional and the U.S. seems to have made every effort to avoid an escalatory confrontation," he said.

For its part, Russia condemned the attack. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack "an act of aggression" and said it violated international law.

"The Russians will continue to support the Assad (government) because it is in their interests to do so," Carafano said.

At the same time, Syria's President al-Assad also condemned the attack, although leaders in the West backed Trump's action. Enditem