Was Donald Trump’s missile strike in Syria illegal?

Trump had declared his red line just the day before and, unlike former President Obama, swiftly followed through with a narrowly targeted, proportionate attack to deter Assad from any further use of deadly chemical weapons.

And then, he acknowledged that the U.S. had a “responsibility” over the devastating Syrian conflict – the same word he would use months later before approving the launch of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles to target a Syrian Air Force base. The attack killed about 100 civilians, including many children. The Syrian government blames rebel fighters.

These air strikes were in retaliation for this week’s gruesome chemical weapons attack against innocent Syria civilians.

“Hence, there is a kind of customary law of war initiation in modern times that has supplanted a long-held view, and the view of the Founders, about what the Constitution means”, Kent said.

“The air base is almost nearly destroyed, including aircraft and air defense bases”, said Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, which operates a network of activists on the ground in Syria.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio: “All Americans can appreciate the president’s strong leadership in responding to Syria’s government launching a chemical attack on their own people”. He said Shayrat is the second-most active when it comes to take offs and landings, superseded only by the Hemeimeem base operated by the Russian military in the coastal province of Latakia.

In a short speech made from his Mar a Lago resort in Florida, President Trump gave his reasons for ordering this strike.

Syrian military said at least 7 people were killed in the strike and several others were wounded.

Trump added that all “civilized nations” should join the United States “in seeking an end to the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria“. His advisers said there are no contradictions between his military intervention and his campaign promises: Trump took action to defend US interests, they argued.

“We can not be the world’s policeman”, Trump said at his first presidential debate against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, whom Trump called out for her role in some of the very foreign interventions Trump railed against on the stump.

The U.S. was not tracking the airfield as an active chemical site, an official said, but the military did take precautions not to hit anything that could possibly lead to the inadvertent release of chemical munitions or chemical substances.

If Trump believes the content of his speech to be true, then he either he is misunderstanding Syria’s threat to USA national security, that he does not give much value to the sovereignty of other nations, or that he is unaware of the legal and moral constraints of war. For example, President Bill Clinton sent thousands of USA troops into Kosovo in the 1990s to participate in a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation peacekeeping mission.

When the Syrian Civil War started, many in the United States believed involvement was not in America’s best interests.

On Friday, Assad’s office described the USA action as, “reckless“, “irresponsible”, and not based on true facts. He said only a trained, well-equipped free Syrian army would prevail. Russian Federation has supported Syrian government troops and the Assad regime. The airfield is in an isolated area and the strike was conducted in the early morning hours in Syria, to minimize the risk to civilians, according to the officials. Russian Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov used his remarks to lash out at what he claimed were the “illegitimate actions of the United States”.

“We have no knowledge” of that, one of the senior military officials said. But US officials said they had no definitive evidence that Russian Federation had prior knowledge of Tuesday’s attack.

On Thursday, the Department of Defense released a map showing what it said was the specific flight pattern of the aircraft believed to have been used in the attack. “President Obama, do not attack Syria“.

Iran also condemned the US action. As such, it is bound not only by the global laws that govern belligerent activities, but also by moral constraints on the conduct of war. Russian Federation balked at such a resolution, and, along with the Syrian regime itself, blamed terrorists for the attack. But McFarland has thus far remained in her current role.

The United States did not seek Security Council authorisation for the military action that followed days of global outrage at images of dead children from the suspected sarin gas attack. “We hope all sides will stay calm and exercise restraint to prevent the escalation of tension”.

The airstrikes came after conflicting statements from the Trump administration on Syria.

“With respect to Assad, there is a political reality that we have to accept”, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week.

The worldwide community has been starving for leadership in Syria. They should support this resolution now or prove they support Assad staying in power. That being said, the authority to declare war under the Constitution is given to Congress.

Yet the courts have not settled some constitutional questions about what is war and who gets to decide when the United States attacks.

Another, proposed by Senator Marco Rubio, is for the U.S.to cooperate with Sunni Arab governments to discuss an “alternative” government in Syria.

Rubio told the “Today Show” that Trump should seek the help of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey – all of which supported the USA airstrikes.

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