It's a one-off strike, with older legal precedents in humanitarian interventions".
In April, Trump was quick to react with a one-off strike of his own after the Syrian government killed scores of civilians in an apparent chemical attack.
But it would be wrong to see the settlement as a one-off strike against just one bank by a single government.
And, most significantly, to what extent is the attack the start of an escalating campaign against a broad spectrum of extremists in northwestern Africa, or a one-off strike against high-profile Qaeda operatives?
In any case, a "one-off strike" would have no real impact, said Frederic C. Hof, a former Obama administration advisor on Syria and director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council in Washington.
It is unclear how the Trump administration can thread the needle between a symbolic, one-off strike, and all-out war with Russia.
With some calling this a "defining moment" for Trump, it is critical for him and his aides to refrain from an emotional, one-off strike that would do nothing to change Assad's behavior, and instead work to prevent any further war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But there is a deep reluctance within the US military to bless even a one-off military strike.
Maybe "Lichtung/Clearing" is a one-off lucky strike — many choreographers have had those, and some have built careers on them — but I can't help hoping that a new door has opened.
The US has said its forces are "ready to go" but former UK military chiefs warned a one-off missile strike could see the UK dragged into deeper action.
Passing time had tempted some Americans to look upon the slaughter of thousands of people in one go on September 11th last year as a one-off, a "lucky" strike on a scale the terrorists would be hard-pressed to repeat once the Americans had toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and so deprived al-Qaeda of its sanctuary.
