The US is unlikely to launch an all-out war in Syria, argues Wang Jin, a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Haifa in Israel, writing for
The Beijing News.
Wang says a combination of reasons drove Donald Trump’s decision to launch military strikes against Syria. These include distracting from his election campaign's alleged collusion with Russia, as well as demands from US allies Saudi Arabia and Israel, and concerns over Iran’s expansion in Syria. But so far there is no sign that the strikes will transform into an all-out war, the scholar says.
Trump is likely to take the financial cost of such action into consideration, given the calculations he tweets each time he proposes changing US foreign policy in one region or another. Furthermore, getting drawn fully into Syria's civil war would be a major problem for the US.
Widely regarded as the greatest failure among its historical policies in the Middle East is the US involvement in Iraq's civil war, in which it tried to force regime change and establish a democratic system in the country using military and economic means. The move has not just smashed geopolitical stability in Iraq and the wider region, but has also bogged the US down in a quagmire, Wang says.
Given that the US still lacks the support of a credible opposition force in Syria, it would be unable to carry out effective ground operations, Wang says. The only option available to Trump is a limited military strike, the scholar believes. However, even this will make resolving the situation in Syria more complicated.
Old Version
