Airstrike targeting the T4 airbase in Syria was apparently done by Israel.

An Israeli F-15. US Air Force photo via Wikipedia. 

An airstrike targeting the T4 airbase in Syria has been confirmed to have been conducted by Israel. NBC News. Russia claims that two Israeli F-15's targeted the airbase with 8 missiles, with the Syrians shooting down five of them. The other three impacted the base, killing 14 people. Israel has struck in Syria many times, usually hitting Hezbollah weapons convoys, but has hit the T4 airbase before after an Iranian drone incursion. However, the most recent strike comes on the heels of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma. It is unclear if the United States will send in strikes as well in response to that attack. 

My Comment:

I suspected Israel of being responsible for this attack right away. The other possibilities didn't make much sense to me. Trump didn't even have his security meeting yet so that ruled the US out. Turkey could have been responsible since they hate Assad, but they seem to be trying to make nice with Russia now so I ruled them out as well. And none of the other possible countries were able to strike across Lebanon, including Turkey. It was always going to be Israel and now, according to NBC, we know it was them. 

This isn't really as big of a deal as people are making it out to be. Israel routinely strikes targets in Syria and has even bombed the T4 airbase before. They had a major battle there recently that resulted in the loss of one of their planes, while destroying many targets on the ground. It's not really any different than previous strikes but people are acting like this is the start of World War III. 

And I am also not sure if this strike was really in response to the chemical weapons attack in Douma. Though Israel and the government of Syria don't get along to say the least, it is Assad's Hezbollah/Iranian military allies that really angers Israel. Indeed, the vast majority of strikes Israel have conducted have been against those hated enemies. My guess is that this may be more of the same with the chemical weapons attack being nothing more than an especially convenient excuse. 

Remember, Israel just had that Iranian drone fly over their airspace, which was shot down by an attack helicopter. Those drones could be used to strike targets in Israel which is a massive threat that the Israelis won't tolerate. Since the last drone was launched from T4, they probably wanted to make sure that the base won't be used for that again. 

I'm not convinced that Syria was able to shoot down the five missiles the Russians claimed they did. The Israelis rocked the Syrian air defense network pretty hard during the last strikes and very few air defenses are posted by the T4 base. My guess is that it was a face saving comment by the Russians as their air defenses have been sold to Syria, but they somehow failed to intercept the F-15's that launched this attack. 

I do have to wonder what this means for America though. I am hoping that Israel's strike against Syria will be enough of a bloody nose that we don't have to do anything else to Syria. I'm no fan of chemical weapons but I also want the war in Syria to be over with. Blowing up additional military targets won't accomplish much of anything except prolonging the war, which has gone on way too long as it is. 

The one thing that I doubt Trump will do in response is an attempt at regime change. Trump has made it very clear that he wants US troops out of Syria and that he doesn't want us bogged down in another Iraq. His new national security team may be hawkish but I doubt Trump wants a full scale war. My guess if anything happens at all it will be another cruise missile strike like the last time Syria pushed the worlds buttons on the chemical weapons issue. At least I hope so. Not much could tank Trump's support but an unnecessary war with the Syrian regime probably would.