After appropriate American military action, time now for diplomacy

SYRIAN President Bashar Assad's latest poison gas attack on rebel-held Idlib that killed 80 civilians left US President Donald Trump with no other choice but to take military action against the Syrian regime.

This was at least the second time that the Syrian leader has violated a global chemical weapons treaty, by gassing his own people. And this time, Mr Assad appeared to be also in clear breach of the 2013 agreement to hand over all his chemical weapons to be destroyed. The horrific images of Syrian civilians, including children, choking to death after breathing the nerve gas ignited worldwide indignation by those who watched them, including Mr Trump.

"When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, beautiful babies, with a chemical gas that was so lethal - people were shocked to hear what gas it was - that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line," Mr Trump said during a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House last Tuesday, making it clear that he would punish the Syrian leader for what should be seen as a direct challenge to the international community, if not a war crime.