Trump's Syria Airbase Attack Sends New, Strong Message

Responding to a Syrian chemical weapons attack on Tuesday, leaving scores dead, the U.S. struck an airbase in Syria, Thursday. Multiple U.S. officials confirmed the military operation, one launching 59 cruise missiles.

Even though this attack is unlikely to bring peace to or end the Syrian dilemma for the West, it certainly has positive outcomes:

• The attack restored the image of the U.S. as a strong nation — and its reputation  as a leading world power. The restoration of these American images globally — which were lost partially due to the weak position of the politically correct Obama administration — was necessary to restore the U.S. to its needed powerful position on the world stage, so its policies may be brought to fruition. 

• The attack, however, is not enough to destabilize the Bashar al-Assad regime. Accordingly, the military strike cannot be viewed in any way as a form of support for ISIS. This attack can be seen only as limited retaliatory punishment to deter Bashar al-Assad from repeating his atrocities.

Preferably now, President Trump should send a clear message to ISIS, one pointedly informing them that the attack on Bashar al-Assad changes nothing in the Trump administration's plans to "erase them [ISIS] from the face of earth."

This is an absolutely crucial message, as ISIS can use the attack to claim that Allah has made their enemies — like the U.S. — serve their cause of weakening al-Assad.

ISIS can additionally and literally claim that such "Godly" intervention (by making their enemies serve their cause) assists them in becoming victorious against al-Assad.

These specious claims can potentially bolster ISIS in its recrutiment efforts, attracting more young Sunni Muslims to their cause. A strong message by the U.S. president against ISIS, as heretfore described, is criticial to cease using the attack for and to the benefit of ISIS.

Many in the Muslim world now are saying that it was not ISIS, not other Islamic organizations, not Muslim governments who intervened to prevent other attacks on innocent children, that it was the U.S. who intervened to stop such heinous acts against Muslim children. From this angle, the attack is a real victory for the American values held in the minds of many Muslims.

Thus, this can aid in diminishing radical Islam's appeal.

Trump's tactical military strike can actually diminish the ability of ISIS — and other Islamic radical groups — to employ the Syrian issue (and Assad's atrocities) as a tool to recruit more Muslims for their terror cells.

Typically, radical Islamists and jihadists use videos of Bashar al-Assad atrocities to recruit more followers, with claims that the world ignores atrocities against Muslim children and infants.

Donald Trump's decision to retaliate for the killing of Muslim innocent children simply proves to Muslims that the logic used by radical Islamists is wrong, thus diminishing  the ability of such groups to use this reasoning to recruit more followers.

Dr. Tawfik Hamid is the author of "Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works, Why It Should Terrify Us, How to Defeat It." Read more reports from Tawfik Hamid — Click Here Now.