later the Trump administration has done little to shift the course of the seven-year civil war in Syria — nor to dislodge the dictator it accuses of perpetuating a humanitarian catastrophe in the country. Within a single day of the US-led strikes, Syrian rescue workers reported heavy shelling by the Assad regime in the Homs and Hama countryside, reporting “28 barbaric air strikes” and heavy artillery shelling on civilian homes. “Let’s not kid ourselves,” said Mara Karlin, a former senior Pentagon official.