They already have the Chinese FN-6, which doesn't appear to be accurate enough to hit a jumbo jet from 500 feet away, and some ancient SA-7s from Libya, but I'd hate to see ISIS or al-Nusra get their hands on Mistral or SA-24s.
]]>If Assad isn't punished for this attack (a clear violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925) he will continue and escalate his chemical weapons use.
I completely reject the "this is all the fault of Western colonialism" argument. Syria laboured under the burden of French rule for a whole 26 years, I'm sure it was thoroughly unpleasant but it was probably better than the Turks, and as they became independent in 1946 they really should have gotten over it by now. France certainly didn't leave Syria as a fascist dictatorship run by a sectarian minority, they've managed that all by themselves.
Sure, Syria's borders are arbitrary and illogical: name me a country with rational, scientifically designed borders. All borders are accidents of history, politics or warfare. Given this ethnic composition of the region: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/27/the-one-map-that-shows-why-syria-is-so-complicated/ they were never onto a winner.
We bombed Libya for six months with miniscule Libyan casualties, even military ones. We should be able to manage one weekend attack on Assad's airbases, most of which he has helpfully located in the middle of the desert, with few or no civilian casualties.
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