If the Iraq War Had Never Happened, Would the US Have Gone to War in Syria?

In 2013, Barack Obama and David Cameron pushed their respective countries to go to war in Syria to enforce the American "red line" against Assad's regime. However, in part from fatigue and disillusionment from the war in Iraq both the American and British public rejected intervention in Syria. This was a major setback for the US and Obama in particular. But if the Iraq War had never happened, would the US and UK have been more likely to go to war in Syria?
 
Wasn't the cause of not going to war with Syria back in '13 because of the possiblity of a confrontation with the Russians?
 
Wasn't the cause of not going to war with Syria back in '13 because of the possiblity of a confrontation with the Russians?
They weren't present in the same way they are now. As OP said, one of the main reasons for the lack of a strike was that there as very little public or political support for such an action. Besides, I highly doubt we actually would have gone to war over Ghouta. It probably would have been similar to our actions after Khan Sheikhoun and Douma, limited TLAM and airstrikes meant to degrade Syrian chemical weapons capabilities. Perhaps we might have stepped up aid to Syrian rebels, and in an extreme situation we may have even had a Libya-style no-fly zone, but I doubt the latter - the collapse of Libya after Gaddhafi was toppled was a big reason why Obama and other NATO leaders were reluctant to intervene in Syria afterwards.

In any case, without the Iraq war there might have never been a civil war in Syria to intervene over in the first place. The fall of Saddam and the subsequent occupation and insurgency had major effects on the region, and are commonly identified among the root causes of the Arab Spring and the wave of radical Sunni terrorism that currently plagues the region.
 
In any case, without the Iraq war there might have never been a civil war in Syria to intervene over in the first place. The fall of Saddam and the subsequent occupation and insurgency had major effects on the region, and are commonly identified among the root causes of the Arab Spring and the wave of radical Sunni terrorism that currently plagues the region.

Yet another reason why the Iraq Invasion was maybe the single biggest foreign policy mistake in American history.
 

RousseauX

Donor
Wasn't the cause of not going to war with Syria back in '13 because of the possiblity of a confrontation with the Russians?
No it's because neither the US congress nor UK parliament would authorize Obama and Cameron respectively to hit Syria. In the US it came down to partisan reasons.
 
In 2013, Barack Obama and David Cameron pushed their respective countries to go to war in Syria to enforce the American "red line" against Assad's regime. However, in part from fatigue and disillusionment from the war in Iraq both the American and British public rejected intervention in Syria. This was a major setback for the US and Obama in particular. But if the Iraq War had never happened, would the US and UK have been more likely to go to war in Syria?

If Russia has a similar commitments to Damascus as OTL, there is still no way for NATO to attack without Russian intervention. Moscow would never allow Syria to devolve into another Libya especially since its a short journey away from their restive muslim population.
 
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