Less than forty-eight hours later, President Trump ordered two U.S. Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean to launch fifty-nine cruise missiles at the Syrian air base from which the Khan Sheikhoun attack originated. The strikes hit Syrian aircraft and a refueling facility, destroying 20 percent of Assad’s working air force.2 But more important than the damage inflicted on the Syrian war machine was the message the strike sent, not just to Syria and Russia, but to North Korea and Iran as well.
