Syria's public relations ministry waited about two hours after the Western airstrike to produce two "victory images." In one of them, Syrian President Bashar Assad can be seen strolling into his office on just another "regular work morning." In the other, a jeep full of Russian, Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah flags is photographed carving its way through a cheering throng, like any normal day, packing one of Damascus' main squares.
The message the Syrians sought to deliver: Even more than 100 missiles won't stop Russia and the "axis of evil" from completing its primary mission – cleansing Syria of insurgents and stabilizing the Assad regime.
Iran's supreme leader and Assad's patron, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said it this way: "The criminals who attacked in Syria didn't change the situation on the ground and didn't accomplish anything."
The joint press conference with France's defense and foreign ministers perfectly illustrated that the Syria strike was extremely surgical, symbolic and to a large extent ineffective as far as fostering deterrence against Assad, who will now continue to slaughter his own people and perhaps even return to using unconventional weapons.
The French left no room for doubt that the attack was a one-time thing "to be continued through diplomatic channels." They admitted that the Russians received prior warning in order to protect their personnel (and warn their partners).
They stressed there was no intention to topple Assad, harm civilians, escalate the situation in Syria or meet any other objectives, beyond warning against the continued use of chemical weapons.
Declarations of this sort, supposedly, allow Assad and his patrons, Russia and Iran, to "absorb" the attack and move on, but Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday feigned indignity.
Russia did not suffice with denouncing the Western attack, it also intimated it would consider, as a response, providing the Syrians with advanced S-300 anti-aircraft batteries for self-defense. It is clear to all that this threat, if it materializes, could significantly impede the Israeli air force as it tries to curb Iran's efforts to establish a foothold in Syria.
Moreover, the Syria attack plainly illustrates that although the U.S. and Israel agree over Iran's negative role in Syria and the region, their respective "red lines" do not wholly correspond.
Trump wants to leave Syria and chose to "punish" Assad only for using chemical weapons, while Israel sees Iran's military presence in Syria and Tehran's intention to stay there after the war ends as the main threat.
The fact that in recent days no one in Washington has uttered a word of warning toward Iran, or has addressed reports in Israel that the Iranian drone which Israel downed in February was carrying an explosive payload, means Israel must now make every effort to coordinate its positions and fall in line with the U.S.
In this spirit, Israel must aspire to a situation whereby any American demand to fix the nuclear deal with Iran not only forces Tehran to stop manufacturing ballistic missiles but also withdraw their forces and the militias they command from Syria.
