US Attacked Syria to Settle Scores With Russia, Iran

Western powers that launched coordinated airstrikes against Syria sought to settle scores with Russia and Iran, but at the same time making sure they did not draw retaliation from Damascus' allies and set off a wider conflict, says a former diplomat. 
"It seems that the move was intended to settle scores with Russia and, to some extent, with Iran. Thus, they did something that was limited in scale," Ali Khorram told ISNA in remarks published Tuesday. 
Warplanes and ships from the United States, Britain and France launched more than 100 missiles at storage and research facilities near Damascus and Homs before dawn on Saturday, in a "limited" and "targeted" operation that Washington hailed as a success, according to the New York Times. 
The strikes were carried out in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by government forces a week earlier—a claim dismissed by Damascus, Moscow and Tehran.