You’re right, they’re not going to stop Assad. But I don’t think that’s the goal.

Stopping Assad would take a much larger commitment than the U.S. and allies are willing to make. There was a window of opportunity to get rid of him early in the civil war, but once Russia directly intervened in 2015 that window closed. With outside help, Assad consolidated power in Syria’s east. Escalation against him now would be met with escalation in his defense.

This week’s strikes tried to thread a needle. Doing nothing would signal that chemical attacks against civilians are okay. Doing a lot would upend the dynamics of the Assad v. Rebels conflict, imposing more suffering on the Syrian people without necessarily changing the eventual outcome.