Speaking with CNBC, AGSIW Executive Vice President Stephen A. Seche commented the April 7 U.S. airstrikes on a Syrian air base: “Without a good overlying strategy, this could be a big minefield [that President Donald J. Trump is] walking into rather than a garland, and something that will continue to pay dividends for his foreign policy.” Seche elaborated:

I think the Russians, as they’re doing now, they will huff and they will puff, but I think they have already decided that they can live with one-off strike. In this case, I think that they’re not terribly happy about it, about the reinsurgence of American influence in what is an area where they have had an enjoyed primacy now, since they entered the war in September 2014. But, it is not a terrible threat to their ability to continue to manage and control events inside the country, and that’s of course, unless there is another event. But this is a question: If there is another event or a chemical attack by the Assad regime, will America respond again? There is a lot of expectation now, certainly in the Arab world, that President Trump will respond accordingly to more events in the future. That is why there there needs to be some calculation made in Washington of how exactly the policy will take shape, and not just be something that you do spontaneously, or perhaps even just at the spur of the moment because it is a feel good movement for everyone right now. There has got to be a really serious movement of calculation to see if a policy can be brought to bear on this conflict and if we can play a constructive role in bringing it to an end.