How Syria attack triggered Western action, but on the ground Assad gained

A rebel fighter of Jaysh al-Islam warms himself near a fire near Douma, January 2, 2017. [File, Standard]

After Syrian forces bombed the town of Douma earlier this month in an attack the United States says involved chlorine gas, Washington and its allies launched missile strikes as punishment.

The retribution has changed little in the course of the seven-year civil war, but the alleged poison gas attack did.