The West has been wary over getting embroiled in the civil war raging in Syria because the public has become hostile to the idea of intervention in conflicts which do not directly threaten Western interests and because there could be no clear exit strategy. Furthermore, the rebels are not a unified, single entity and factions within the group would be identified as hostile to Western interests. However, Western doctrine has always had a line in the sand when it comes to the use of weapons of mass destruction, particularly against civilians. It seems beyond dispute that chemical or biological weapons have been used now and hundreds of fatalities have been caused.
Western powers are fairly convinced that the Assad regime is responsible for this atrocity, but the Assad government denies this. It is plausible that factions within the rebel grouping could have used such a weapon against civilians as a means to provoke a Western military response against the Regime, but no evidence to support this hypothesis has yet been produced. Russia and China are both allied to Syria and have vociferously argued against a military response.
The geopolitical situation is making investors nervous and has been blamed for a decline in Asian markets with the Nikkei, Hang Seng and Australia’s ASX 200 all off by more than 1%. European markets have also opened lower, but losses are currently smaller, although the Dax and Cac fell by 2.5% yesterday. The uncertainty and continuing trouble in Egypt has sent the price of crude oil higher on concerns over potential shortages (at this stage, quite irrational, but markets are often driven by sentiment rather than logic). Crude oil prices have risen to a six month high and gold is also appreciating.