The US-led strikes on Syrian ‘chemical weapons sites’, joined by the U.K and France, is another episode of the Western “humanitarian intervention”. So far the history tells us that nothing good has ever come out any such interventions to save humanity. Whether it was NATO intervention in Yugoslavia of the last century or the not so long ago humanitarian intervention while violating the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle of international law in Libya, results in both cases were disastrous. In latter case, the humanitarian response in the form of NATO bombardment of Tripoli divided Libya into three factions controlled by different Islamist militant groups. Syria already under an ugly civil war will be torn further apart because of the recent strikes initiated by the US.

The US has not waited for a single moment to confirm who was behind the latest chemical weapons. Neither did the US and its ally seek any other option of peacefully negotiating the Syrian conflict. In the midst of all the chaos that is surrounding Syria and the vicious proxy war for securing national interests in the region that the US and Russia are involved in; ordinary civilians are bearing the brunt of all the conflicts.

Are there any hidden goals that the US wants to achieve while carrying out the air strikes that the humanitarian principles compel them to conduct? It seems that the US is desperate to topple the Assad regime. The US was waiting for an opportunity to make people fool once again. And the supposed ‘chemical attack’ justifies, their attack on Syria as many champions of human rights will argue.

How will Russia respond to the US coalition and its air strikes? Will the attacks aggravate the already strained relations between the two international powers? Without any doubt, they will sour the bilateral ties. The attacks can be seen as a harbinger of another cold war between Washington and Moscow that many political analysts are already warning about.

Putin can be partly blamed for the devastation of Syria, however, his warnings cannot be ignored when he says that the air attacks of the US and its allies will exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria. With the attacks on Syria, the US and its allies have already lost the upper moral pedestal from which they manage the world affairs. Instead of relying on washing blood with blood tactic, the US should show restraint from displaying its hard power. A dialogue will achieve the desired results of not using chemical weapons in the future.