BRITAIN/FRANCE/MILITARY/RUSSIA/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The three-country coalition that launched airstrikes in Syria came together despite persistent trans-Atlantic tensions—a period of unity made possible, White House officials said, because of good relations between the U.S. and French presidents and an alliance against Russia that eased strains with the U.K. The coalition was rooted in the shared goal of ending the use of chemical weapons in Syria. French President Emmanuel Macron was the first of the three countries’ leaders to lean publicly in to a military response after the alleged chemical attack this month that leaders from the three countries blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The coalition was also made possible by President Donald Trump’s joining with British Prime Minister Theresa May last month to expel Russian diplomats from their countries in response to the poisoning in the U.K. of a former Russian spy, White House officials said. The expulsion didn’t have a direct link to the Syrian conflict, but gave the two countries a chance to repair a frayed alliance, they said.”
-Michael C. Bender,”The Art of the Handshake: Behind the Alliance That Hit Syria,” The Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2018 12:16 pm