Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a joint press conference with the leaders of Turkey and Iran as part of a tripartite summit on Syria, in Ankara, on April 4, 2018. Parspix/Press Association. All rights reserved.The previous column in this series examined the kinds of attack that the United States and its partners might mount against Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria after the reported chemical-weapons attack in Douma on 7 April. It stated:
"There is a spectrum of offensive options for US and other western militaries. But in broad terms there are three levels of action against the regime:
* Symbolic action involving strikes against one or more Syrian bases, most likely centred on the use of cruise missiles - but at a higher level of intensity than a year ago when the US fired cruise missiles after a chemical-weapons (CW) attack.
