- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Ex-CIA Officer: Syrian Strikes Will Lead to More US Involvement in Conflict

© AFP 2023 / Ford Williams/U.S. NavyIn this image from video provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea, Friday, April 7, 2017.
In this image from video provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea, Friday, April 7, 2017. - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Former CIA analyst and whistleblower John Kiriakou told Sputnik that the US strategy after attack on a Syrian airbase will be more Washington's involvement in the armed conflict.

US missile attack on the Syrian airfield - Sputnik International
Mattis Confident US-Russia Ties Won't Get Out of Control After Attack on Syria
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Trump administration looks likely to follow up its cruise missile strike against Syrian targets last week with increased military involvement in that country’s conflicts, Kiriakou told Sputnik.

"The strategy after the attack, unfortunately, will be more US involvement in Syria," Kiriakou, who served in the Middle East as a CIA officer said.

Kiriakou warned that Trump could quickly find himself caught up in an escalation into a war involvement that he had previously expressed his desire to avoid.

"Any increase in support for the Saudis, whether in weapons sales, hardware, air support, or anything else, will draw the United States into a conflict in which it has no interest," he stated.

However, Kiriakou said he believed neither the United States nor Syria wanted to escalate military actions against each other after the US launched Tomahawk missile strikes were against a Syrian airbase last Thursday night.

"I don't think there will be any immediate consequences from the air strikes," he said.

Kiriakou also expressed his belief that Syrian President Bashar Assad had ordered the use of chemical weapons — something the Syrian and Russian governments have both flatly denied.

The body of a plane burned as a result of the US missile attack on an air base in Syria - Sputnik International
Russian MoD: US Failed to Weaken Syrian Armed Forces by Attacking Sha'irat Base
"Assad had to think that there would be fallout to yet another attack on innocent civilians. He calculated that the Russians wouldn't stop him. He calculated that the Iranians wouldn't stop him," he maintained.

Russia and Syria have both stated that the toxic agents detonated in Syria were being held by Islamist rebel forces.

Kiriakou said he believed Trump was sincere in his belief that the chemical weapons were dropped by Syrian aircraft. He expressed the belief that the cruise missile strikes were meant to retaliate against what he called "an act of genocide."

"The US military tracked the Syrian Air Force planes as they took off from their bases, dropped their chemical payloads, and returned," Kiriakou said.

President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, April 6, 2017, after the U.S. fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria Thursday night in retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians. - Sputnik International
Trump: US Not Planning to Intervene Militarily in Syria
However, the Syrian and Russian governments do not deny that the Syrian aircraft were attacking military targets in the area. They insist that the toxic agents were detonated on the ground when the aircraft hit the buildings where they were housed.

Kiriakou said he believed Trump was oblivious to the concern that visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping might feel over his ordering the Tomahawk strikes during his visit to the United States.

"Trump did this during the Chinese visit because he doesn't care about appearances. He felt that his hand was forced and he felt that the only time to act was now," he said.

Kiriakou gained international recognition as the only person the US government sent to prison for exposing the George W. Bush administration's torture program.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала