Middle East fears the worst

damascus - The United States is conducting feverish consultations with France and Great Britain about military action against Syria. After the harsh words of Donald Trump yesterday, who warned that the 'missiles are coming', America has left the door ajar for a diplomatic solution. 'We study all options,' said the spokeswoman for the White House. But it is expected that the diplomatic door will be slammed quickly and hard.

Coordination between Western allies- who does what- and determining the size and goals of an attack are probably the cause of the delay.

In addition, the US Defense Secretary Mattis claims that the intelligence services are still investigating the evidence that the Assad regime was actually responsible for the poison gas gas, with dozens of deaths last weekend. But given the statements from the various Western capitals, nobody doubts about it.

Both Trump and Mattis, who have already presented the military options to the president, canceled travel plans because of the situation in Syria. The US Army boss canceled a speech today in New York.

Reporters in America even estimate how many parking spaces are reserved at the Pentagon. The next few hours not so much, which would indicate that the attack is in any case still waiting.

Trump said earlier this week that he would respond within 48 hours. That deadline ended last night. A year ago there were three days between the sarin attack by the Assad regime and the military action by America. At the time, it consisted of firing 59 cruise missiles at an air base, which was used a few hours later by Assad's regime for assault actions.

Now five days have passed since the poison gas attack on Douma. But after the harsh words of Trump yesterday, military action is inevitable. Experts suggest that the extra preparation time indicates that the attack will be larger and more complicated, and may even take several days. About a single barrage cruise missiles does not have to be discussed for days.

What the exact purpose of an attack this time will be, remains unclear until the last moment. Will it be a powerful message to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons again in the future? Or do America, France and England want to hit their regime hard?

A limited attack, such as one year ago, does not have an effect, whereas the risk of escalation is large in case of extensive action. In addition to America, Russia, Iran and Turkey have stationed troops in Syria. British and France special forces would also be active.

Russian officials have threatened to shoot the American cruise missiles, or even to fire the ships from which they are fired. That would mean an unprecedented escalation. Then there is the possibility that America, France and England deploy warplanes that can be brought down by the advanced Russian anti-aircraft system. Even then the consequences can not be overseen.

Russia initially denied that there was a chemical attack, but now claims that the rebels were responsible for that. That is also the position of Iran. According to Tehran, an excuse is being created to attack Syria.

Presumably, chlorine gas was used last weekend, which usually requires few lives, but now probably ended up in a confined space where many Syrians were hiding from the bombing. So far no conclusive evidence has been presented that Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the attack in Douma, which has been completely in the hands of the regime since this morning after a year's siege.

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