It turns out that President Donald Trump gave a heads up to the Russian government before launching his missile strike against Syria on Thursday night.
"Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using the established deconfliction line," said Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis in an official statement. "U.S. military planners took precautions to minimize risk to Russian or Syrian personnel located at the airfield."
In response to the attack, Russia has announced that it will help Syria strengthen its air defenses. It also may have prepared Syrians for the attack by tipping them off, as eyewitnesses observed personnel and equipment being moved from the Shayrat airbase in advance of the attack.
The authoritarian state expressed predictable displeasure with Trump's decision. Although Syria has been under intense criticism for using chemical weapons against its own citizens, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has a close alliance with Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin.
In a statement on Russian state TV on Friday, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "Putin views the U.S. strikes on Syria as aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law. Washington's step will inflict major damage on U.S.-Russia ties."
Peskov also repeated Russia's denial that Assad was responsible for the chemical attack, instead arguing that the Syrian air force hit a chemical arsenal owned by rebels, according to Bloomberg.
The Syrian airstrike is so far supported by France, Israel, Italy, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Its main opponents are Syrian allies like Russia and Iran.
Matthew Rozsa is a professional writer whose work has appeared in multiple national media outlets since 2012 and exclusively at Salon since 2016. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012, was a guest on Fox Business in 2019, repeatedly warned of Trump's impending refusal to concede during the 2020 election, spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California in 2021, was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022 and appeared on NPR in 2023. His diverse interests are reflected in his interviews including: President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (1999-2001), animal scientist and autism activist Temple Grandin, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (1997-2001), director Jason Reitman ("The Front Runner"), inventor Ernő Rubik, comedian Bill Burr ("F Is for Family"), novelist James Patterson ("The President's Daughter"), epidemiologist Monica Gandhi, theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin, voice actor Rob Paulsen ("Animaniacs"), mRNA vaccine pioneer Katalin Karikó, philosopher of science Vinciane Despret, actor George Takei ("Star Trek"), climatologist Michael E. Mann, World War II historian Joshua Levine (consultant to "Dunkirk"), Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (2013-present), dog cognition researcher Alexandra Horowitz, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (2012, 2016), comedian and writer Larry Charles ("Seinfeld"), seismologist John Vidale, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman (2000), Ambassador Michael McFaul (2012-2014), economist Richard Wolff, director Kevin Greutert ("Saw VI"), model Liskula Cohen, actor Rodger Bumpass ("SpongeBob Squarepants"), Senator John Hickenlooper (2021-present), Senator Martin Heinrich (2013-present), Egyptologist Richard Parkinson, Rep. Eric Swalwell (2013-present), Fox News host Tucker Carlson, actor R. J. Mitte ("Breaking Bad"), theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, biologist and genomics entrepreneur William Haseltine, comedian David Cross ("Scary Movie 2"), linguistics consultant Paul Frommer ("Avatar"), Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (2007-2015), computer engineer and Internet co-inventor Leonard Kleinrock and right-wing insurrectionist Roger Stone.
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