SYRIA thread

[Montmorency]

We won't fire at Russians on purpose or first.

Nor would we be the first to use a WMD.

Russia isn't foolish enough to think they could win such a war.

So WW3 is hyping it a lot.

A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the Syrian government and its allies had "absorbed" the attack. The sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia, the official said.

"If it is finished, and there is no second round, it will be considered limited," the official said.

French Defence Minister Florence Parly said the Russians "were warned beforehand" to avoid inadvertant escalation.

Mattis, who U.S. officials said had earlier warned in internal debates that too large an attack would risk confrontation with Russia, described the strikes as a one-off to dissuade Assad from "doing this again."

Textbook posturing. Go big or go home, ya profligate bastards.

But - it almost seems like France was the driving participant in this one.

The bombing represents a major escalation putting the West in direct confrontation with Assad's superpower ally Russia,

That's quite striking. I don't think I've ever seen contemporary Russia referred to as a "superpower" in general news media before. A good question for a corporal study.