Regardless of the wrongs of the Syrian civil war — and they are many, with the cruel Assad regime largely responsible — no one should have been allowed to wreck the recent attempt to reach a truce in the fighting there. It was probably the last chance to put an end to the brutal war, and to endorse the impressive personal relationship that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov seems to have established with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry.
But not only was it allowed, in the shape of that U.S.-led airstrike on a Syrian government army base near the town of Deir al-Zour leaving over 60 soldiers dead and 100 injured. Worse, it seemed to confirm earlier reports that the Pentagon was not happy with truce conditions that required coordination with the Russian military.
If true, it amounted to insubordination, with the U.S. military seeking to destroy the policies of its own government. Even worse, the attack allowed besieging Islamic State forces to move into the town and massacre up to 300 citizens before being partially driven out by pro-Assad forces. This in turn has provided grist for Assad regime claims the U.S. is even willing to cooperate with IS to seek its overthrow — a claim that if true has implications too horrible even to think about.