In January of 1915, the first use of a lethal poison gas as a battlefield weapon occurred when Germany fired shells loaded with xylyl bromide at Russian troops on the Eastern Front.  More than 1000 were killed by the substance.  Then, on the morning of April 22, 1915 at the French city of Ypres, a German attack was proceed by the normal artillery “softening up” bombardment.  After it stopped, the Allied defenders waited in their trenches for the infantry attack to begin.  Instead, slowly blown by a gentle breeze from the east, a white cloud of vapor advanced across “No Man’s Land” and into their trenches.  Along a four mile front, two divisions of French and Algerian Colonial troops were devastated by the horrific effect of this new weapon of terror, which would soon be used by both sides in various forms during the conflict.  The age of gas warfare had begun.

The “Geneva Protocol” of 1925 banned the use of chemical weapons in war, but did not outlaw their development or stockpiling.  They were occasionally used since that time, but not during WWII.  Used in Yemen in 1966-67 and during the Iraq-Iran War from 1980-1988 against forces which lacked gas masks or other simple defenses, finally in 1993 an international treaty was signed, banning the use of chemical weapons after 1997.  It was ratified by 128 nations a number later increased to 192.  Syria is one of that group.

So, Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, is in direct violation of the treaty by using chemical weapons against  fellow Syrians.

Treaties are only as good as the will of the signers to submit to their protocols.  If they can be violated without consequences, they are worthless.  So, the actions by the United States, Great Britain and France, obviously supported by at least some of the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, to destroy at least part of the facilities used to manufacture or store these weapons is completely justified.  What about that concept is so difficult to comprehend?