In other words Russia doesn't have legitimate democratic elections. It's basically a one party system with Putin at the head. So just because you have an election it doesn't make it an actual democratic election.
The barrel bombs have been going on for years.... why now? Only a week ago both Tillerson and Haley took regime change in Syria "off the table". Whether international law in Syria is squishy is irrelevant to the fact Assad has "crossed the line" many times and Trump was dead set against attacking Syria. He warned that many very bad things would happen if they attacked Syria and yet here we are.
And yes, what next? Tillerson has been talking tough, regime change talk. Blowing up on airport runway hasn't altered the reality of the Syrian civil war.