Western airstrikes unlikely to impact Assad's war machine

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Western airstrikes unlikely to impact Assad's war machine

2018-04-16 11:51 Last Updated At：13:23

The Western airstrikes targeting suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities might have rained down punishment from the sky, but they will not fundamentally degrade a war machine whose main bases, weaponry and personnel remain in place.

As a symbol, they might reflect the inability to prevent President Bashar Assad from marching toward a professed victory in the civil war — still denying he ever even used banned substances, and perhaps not even needing them.

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Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The Western airstrikes targeting suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities might have rained down punishment from the sky, but they will not fundamentally degrade a war machine whose main bases, weaponry and personnel remain in place.

Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A fireman extinguishes smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Any opposition expectations that the airstrikes might try to destroy or degrade Assad's lethal air power or target bases where his warplanes and helicopters begin their bombing missions were quickly dashed: The U.S., British and French precision attacks only singled out Assad's alleged chemical weapons capabilities.

A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Debris surround the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

More pertinently, the Syrian army declared the battered town of Douma "fully liberated" after the last group of rebels left. Douma was the site of the suspected April 7 chemical weapons attack and also the last rebel-held town in the eastern Ghouta region that was once a sprawling rebel-held bastion at the doors of the capital. Thousands of hard-line rebels capitulated in Douma following years of siege and an air and ground campaign that killed hundreds in recent weeks.

A fireman extinguishes smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Despite Syria's commitment to abolish its program in 2013, U.S. officials say it is "highly likely" that Assad kept a hidden, undisclosed stockpile. They say information gathered from recent alleged attacks also suggest Assad retained a "continued production capacity" — also banned under the 2013 deal.

Syrian soldiers hold their weapons as they dance and chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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The Western airstrikes targeting suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities might have rained down punishment from the sky, but they will not fundamentally degrade a war machine whose main bases, weaponry and personnel remain in place.

Firefighrers extinguish smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Any opposition expectations that the airstrikes might try to destroy or degrade Assad's lethal air power or target bases where his warplanes and helicopters begin their bombing missions were quickly dashed: The U.S., British and French precision attacks only singled out Assad's alleged chemical weapons capabilities.

A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

More pertinently, the Syrian army declared the battered town of Douma "fully liberated" after the last group of rebels left. Douma was the site of the suspected April 7 chemical weapons attack and also the last rebel-held town in the eastern Ghouta region that was once a sprawling rebel-held bastion at the doors of the capital. Thousands of hard-line rebels capitulated in Douma following years of siege and an air and ground campaign that killed hundreds in recent weeks.

A fireman extinguishes smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Despite Syria's commitment to abolish its program in 2013, U.S. officials say it is "highly likely" that Assad kept a hidden, undisclosed stockpile. They say information gathered from recent alleged attacks also suggest Assad retained a "continued production capacity" — also banned under the 2013 deal.

Syrian soldiers hold their weapons as they dance and chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Any opposition expectations that the airstrikes might try to destroy or degrade Assad's lethal air power or target bases where his warplanes and helicopters begin their bombing missions were quickly dashed: The U.S., British and French precision attacks only singled out Assad's alleged chemical weapons capabilities.

The Pentagon said the strikes targeted three facilities — a scientific research center in the Damascus area, allegedly linked to the production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology; a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs; and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and key command post, also west of Homs.

"If this is it, Assad should be relieved," Randa Slim, an expert with the Washington-based Middle East Institute, wrote on Twitter.

For Assad, it was business as usual Saturday — or so his office sought to portray it, posting a short video of him walking into work, briefcase in hand.

More pertinently, the Syrian army declared the battered town of Douma "fully liberated" after the last group of rebels left. Douma was the site of the suspected April 7 chemical weapons attack and also the last rebel-held town in the eastern Ghouta region that was once a sprawling rebel-held bastion at the doors of the capital. Thousands of hard-line rebels capitulated in Douma following years of siege and an air and ground campaign that killed hundreds in recent weeks.

The recapture of Douma effectively ends a nearly seven-year rebellion near Damascus and marks Assad's most significant victory since his forces retook the northern city of Aleppo in late 2016. With seemingly open-ended support from allies Russia and Iran, the Syrian military will most definitely turn its attention to remaining opposition-held territory, namely in the south and the northern province of Idlib.

Assad has already consolidated control over most of Syria and its major population centers. His allies have questioned the rationale of a victor needing to resort to chemical weapons that bring global condemnation and risk punitive action.

The seemingly limited airstrikes came as a disappointment to Syria's opposition, with one rebel spokesman labeling them a "farce." Another senior opposition figure, Nasr Hariri, said the attacks were welcome but only reinforced the message that while it is not OK to use chemical weapons, the government can continue to "use explosive barrels and cluster bombs" with impunity.

Assad's chemical weapons capabilities — and exactly what was hit Saturday — remain shrouded in mystery.

Despite Syria's commitment to abolish its program in 2013, U.S. officials say it is "highly likely" that Assad kept a hidden, undisclosed stockpile. They say information gathered from recent alleged attacks also suggest Assad retained a "continued production capacity" — also banned under the 2013 deal.

The government certainly had enough advance notice. Syria war monitors said the military emptied air bases and moved equipment before the strikes.

The Pentagon said Saturday that it believes the airstrikes "attacked the heart of the Syrian chemical weapons program," significantly degrading Syria's ability to use such weapons again. Russian officials said the damage was minimal, maintaining that all key air bases were intact and the purported chemical weapons facilities had been abandoned long ago.

Capt. Adulsalam Abdulrazek, a former officer in Syria's chemical program, said the overnight strikes probably hit "parts of, but not the heart" of the operation.

Speaking to The Associated Press from rebel-held northern Syria, he said they were unlikely to curb the government's ability to produce such weapons or launch new attacks.

Abdulrazek defected from the program in 2012, when he was based in eastern Ghouta, the suburb hit by a chemical attack in 2013 and allegedly again on April 7.

He said there were an estimated 50 warehouses storing chemical weapons before the program was dismantled in 2013. He said he believes those fixed storage facilities, mostly in rural areas, are intact or only slightly dispersed, and that the program was only partly dismantled because Damascus didn't allow inspections.

IHS Jane's expert Karl Dewey, said the scientific research facility on the northeastern edge of Damascus is thought to have integrated chemical payloads onto artillery.

It is one of at least three sites that have been consistently referenced in association with Syria's chemical weapons program, including Masyaf and Dummar, also known as Jamraya, both reported to have been hit by Israeli strikes last year.

Whatever the rationale for using chemical weapons, even Assad's most persistent detractors agree he does not need them at this point in the war.

The airstrikes are unlikely to have any real impact on the outcome of the civil war, nor will they serve to bring Assad to the negotiating table to seriously discuss a political settlement, as many hoped.

"Will this deter Assad from using chemical weapons again? Possibly, not least because he's essentially won the war anyway," wrote Faysal Itani, resident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.

"Will it change anything else? For better or worse, no."

A look at the protests about the war in Gaza that have emerged on US college campuses

2024-04-26 23:06 Last Updated At：23:11

Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up on an increasing number of college campuses following last week's arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University.

The students are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza — and in some cases from Israel itself.

Protests on many campuses have been orchestrated by coalitions of student groups. The groups largely act independently, though students say they’re inspired by peers at other universities.

A look at protests on campuses in recent days:

Pro-Palestinian student protesters set up a tent encampment at the Ivy League university in New York last week. Police first tried to clear the encampment on April 18, when they arrested more than 100 protesters. But the move backfired, inspiring students across the country and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.

University officials said Wednesday they were extending a deadline for protesters to clear out. They said the demonstrators had committed to removing a significant number of tents and agreed only students would remain at the encampment. They also agreed to ban any discriminatory language or harassing messages.

Ben Chang, a spokesperson for Columbia, said Thursday that discussions with student protesters were continuing. He said university leaders hope the talks lead demonstrators to remove the encampment, but otherwise Columbia will have to consider other options.

“We have our demands; they have theirs,” he said.

Columbia officials said that negotiations were showing progress as the school’s self-imposed early Friday deadline to reach an agreement on dismantling the encampment came and went. Nevertheless, two police buses were parked nearby and there was a noticeable presence of private security and police at entrances to the campus.

The University of Southern California has canceled its main stage graduation ceremony as its campus is roiled by protests. The university already canceled a commencement speech by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns. The Los Angeles Police Department said more than 90 people were arrested Wednesday night for alleged trespassing during a protest at the university. One person was arrested for alleged assault with a deadly weapon. There were no reports of injuries. The university said Wednesday it had closed campus and police would arrest people who did not leave.

Police clashed with protesters at Ohio State University in Columbus, just hours after they gathered Thursday evening. Those who refused to leave after warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, said university spokesperson Benjamin Johnson, citing rules barring overnight events. Johnson did not have an exact number of arrests.

The University of Texas campus was much calmer on Thursday, a day after a demonstration saw police and state troopers in riot gear and on horseback make dozens of arrests and force hundreds of students off the school’s main lawn.

On Thursday, university officials pulled back the campus barricades and allowed another demonstration involving students and some faculty on the main square underneath the school’s iconic clock tower. The group was also protesting the Wednesday arrests.

No violence erupted as a small group of campus police watched from the steps of the tower building. The gathering lasted about two hours.

University President Jay Hartzell said Thursday that 26 of the 55 people arrested Wednesday had no affiliation with the university.

About 50 students at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., set up a tent encampment on the school’s University Yard on Thursday. Later in the day, a group of Georgetown University students and professors staged their own protest walkout and marched to the George Washington campus to join the protesters there.

The protestors are demanding that the university divest from all relations with Israel and lift a suspension against a prominent pro-Palestinian student group.

The university was moving law school finals, which were set to be held in a building next to the encampment, to another building because of the noise.

The university said the protesters must remove tents and disperse by 7 p.m. Protesters stayed overnight at the encampment, local news stations reported Friday morning. In a statement after the Thursday evening deadline, the university in Washington said the encampment violated university policies and that the administration and police were figuring out how to address the situation.

Trying to stay ahead of protests, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, locked most gates into its famous Harvard Yard ahead of classes Monday and limited access to those with school identification.

The school also posted signs warning against setting up tents or tables on campus without permission. Those efforts didn’t stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents Wednesday, which came after a rally against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.

University officials closed the campus through this weekend, saying instruction would continue to be remote, after protesters at the university in northern California used furniture, tents, chains and zip ties to block entrances to an academic and administrative building on Monday.

Officials said in a statement Tuesday that students had occupied a second building and three students had been arrested. On Wednesday, officials said some unidentified people who were not students were also inside one of the occupied buildings. On Thursday, the university said protesters continued to occupy the two buildings.

A dean at the school, Jeff Crane, suggested during the meeting that the university form a committee that would include students to do a deep dive into the school’s investments. Crane also suggested faculty and students continue meeting every 24 hours to keep an open line of communication. The sides have yet to announce an agreement.

The school’s senate of faculty and staff demanded the university’s president resign in a vote of no confidence Thursday, citing the decision to call police in to remove the barricaded students Monday.

Boston Police said Thursday that 108 people were arrested at an encampment at Emerson College. Police said four officers suffered injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.

On Tuesday, about 80 students and other supporters occupied a busy courtyard on the downtown Boston campus. College officials warned the students on Wednesday that some of the protesters were in violation of city ordinances, including by blocking a right-of-way and fire hydrants, and violating noise laws.

The school said the alley where some protesters have set up tents is owned by the city, and Boston police have warned of imminent law enforcement action.

At New York University, an encampment set up by students swelled to hundreds of protesters earlier this week. Police on Wednesday said that 133 protesters had been taken into custody. They said all were released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.

Atlanta police and Georgia state troopers dismantled a camp on Emory University’s quadrangle.

University police had ordered several dozen demonstrators who set up tents early Thursday morning to leave, according to Emory spokeswoman Laura Diamond. She said in an email to The Associated Press that the group “trespassed” onto the private school.

Cheryl Elliott, Emory's vice president for public safety, said Thursday night in a statement that 28 people were arrested, including 20 members of the university community. Some had already been released.

Northwestern University changed its student code of conduct Thursday morning to bar tents on its suburban Chicago campus as student activists set up an encampment.

Dozens participated as University President Michael Schill issued an email saying the university had enacted an “interim addendum” to its student code to bar tents, among other things, and warned of disciplinary actions including suspension, expulsion and criminal charges.

“The goal of this addendum is to balance the right to peacefully demonstrate with our goal to protect our community, to avoid disruptions to instruction and to ensure university operations can continue unabated,” Schilling said.

Protests continued Thursday at Yale, though the number of students involved had visibly shrunk since Monday, when 48 people, including 44 students, were arrested and charged with trespassing after camping out for several days on Beinecke Plaza.

The vast majority of those arrested were charged with trespassing. Classes for the semester at the New Haven, Connecticut-based school are scheduled to end on Friday, with final exams May 2 through 8.

A few dozen protesters set up tents and occupied a building Thursday at the Fashion Institute of Technology, part of the public State University of New York system. Protesters sat on the floor or milled around, many wearing face masks and kaffiyehs. Other protesters outside the building held signs and Palestinian flags. They refused to speak to a reporter. Around a dozen protesters spent the night in tents and sleeping bags inside a campus building. The institute’s museum, which is located in the building where the demonstrators set up camp, was closed Friday.

Students at The City College of New York in Harlem set up an encampment. On Thursday evening, a mix of New York police officers and campus security guards confronted protesters. But they were quickly outnumbered by protesters, who locked arms and cut off their path. The officers retreated, drawing cheers from the encampment.

Police with shields and batons shoved into a line of protesters linked arm in arm at Indiana University Bloomington on Thursday afternoon, arresting 33 people. Police made the arrests after an encampment was set up on campus.

Videos posted to social media appear to show the protest continuing after law enforcement stopped making arrests.

Tents began to appear on Michigan State University’s East Lansing campus early Thursday, with nearly 30 tents set up by late afternoon, and about 100 students gathered near the campus center, engaging in chants.

Police arrested one protester and tore down tents at the University of Connecticut on Thursday, after students set up an encampment.

A small but growing encampment remained in place early Friday on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. A statement issued by the school said officials were “closely monitoring” the encampment, which had started on Thursday, and had not received any reports of threatening or violent behavior by the protestors. However, they warned that protests or speech that violates the university’s policies, disrupts its business, or causes an “intimidating, hostile, or violent environment” would not be tolerated.