U.S. fires 59 missiles at Syrian airfield in deadly response to 'barbaric' chemical attack
The U.S. military launched dozens of cruise missiles aimed at an airfield in Syria on Thursday — in retaliation for the country’s deadly chemical weapons attack against its own citizens.
The bombardment was the first direct assault on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government taken by the U.S. since civil war broke out in the Middle East nation in 2011.
“Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched,” President Trump said late Thursday from Mar-a-Lago, his family compound in Palm Beach, Fla., following the attack.
“Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror,” he added.
“It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” Trump said.
The 59 Tomahawk missiles, fired from the USS Porter and USS Ross in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, rained down on Shayrat Air Base in Homs province in western Syria, according to the Pentagon.
The targets included “hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems and radars,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea, Friday, April 7, 2017.
U.S. fires 59 missiles at Syrian air base after chemical attack on civilians
Syrian President Bashar Assad's office on Friday described the U.S. attack as "reckless," "irresponsible," and "shortsighted." A Syrian official told The Associated Press that the attack left seven people dead and another nine injured.
A timeline of Syria’s chemical weapons use in civil war
A Syrian opposition official disputed the report, saying three soldiers and a general were killed.
The U.S. military said all of its missiles, except for one that malfunctioned, hit their targets, refuting an earlier Russian claim that only 23 made their intended contact. Six Syrian jets were destroyed in the attack, according to the Kremlin, but the air base's runway is intact.
Talal Barazi, the governor of Homs province, said a fire raged in the air base for over an hour following the assault.
Officials believe Assad’s forces launched an attack from the base using a nerve agent, likely sarin.
'Steps underway' to remove Assad, military action possible: W.H.
Syrian state TV called the U.S. strike an act of “aggression.”
The Pentagon said in a statement that Russian military officials were warned ahead of Thursday’s strike, but Secretary of State Tillerson said the U.S. did not reach out to Moscow for approval.
Russia has provided military support for the Syrian government since 2015.
“With a lot of Tomahawks flying, we didn’t want to hit any Russian planes,” a senior military official told the New York Times.
GOP defense hawks urge Trump to take out Syria's air force
Tillerson, meanwhile, said Russia had either been complicit or “simply incompetent” in failing to deliver on a 2013 commitment to help secure Syria’s chemical weapons.
TURKEY OUT / PHOTO TAKEN APRIL 4, 2017
A Syrian man holds a suffering baby victim of a chemical weapons attacks in Idlib Tuesday. (IHA VIA AP)
The strike, which countered Trump’s campaign promises to stay out of the conflict, drew praise from lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, although some cautioned that any further action would necessitate congressional approval.
“Making sure Assad knows that when he commits such despicable atrocities he will pay a price is the right thing to do,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “It is incumbent on the Trump administration to come up with a strategy and consult with Congress before implementing it.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called the strike “appropriate and just.”
Syrians dig a mass grave on Wednesday to bury the bodies of victims of a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.
Syrians dig a mass grave on Wednesday to bury the bodies of victims of a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria's northwestern Idlib province. (FADI AL-HALABI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
“Building on tonight’s credible first step, we must finally learn the lessons of history and ensure that tactical success leads to strategic progress,” Sens. John McCain (R- Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he “fully supports” the strike.
Trump “sent a strong and clear message” that “the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated,” he added.
Assad’s government was under mounting international pressure Thursday following one of the worst chemical bombings in the country’s six-year civil war.
More than 80 people, including at least 30 children and 20 women, were killed in the chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun early Tuesday.
Trump expressed his outrage over the images throughout the week.
The strike came as Trump was hosting a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping focusing in part on another security dilemma: North Korea’s nuclear program.
Trump’s actions in Syria could signal to China that the new President isn’t afraid of unilateral military steps.
The surprise assault also marked a striking reversal for Trump, who warned against the U.S. getting pulled into the Syrian civil war before he even ran for office.
Anti-Assad uprisings began in Syria in 2011 as protests broke out across the country. As opposition supporters took up arms, violence escalated and the country descended into all out civil war.
Estimates of casualties in the conflict vary between 320,000 and 470,000. It has led to the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Throughout, Assad has been accused of using banned chemical weapons to quell rebels.
Then-President Barack Obama rejected the use of a strike similar to the one used Thursday after Syria used chemical weapons in 2013.
Earlier Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provided an eerily prophetic statement when asked about Assad’s use of banned weapons.
TOPSHOT - An unconscious Syrian child is carried at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following a suspected toxic gas attack on April 4, 2017.
A suspected chemical attack killed at least 58 civilians including several children in rebel-held northwestern Syria, a monitor said, with the opposition accusing the government and demanding a UN investigation.
(Graphic Images) Horrifying aftermath of Syria's chemical attack
“I really believe that we should’ve and still should take out his airfields and prevent him from being able to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them,” she said during an interview at the Women in the World Summit.
Thursday’s bombardment came on the 100th anniversary of U.S. entry into World War I — the first conflict in which poison gas was used as a weapon.
The action was given the green-light by Trump barely 72 hours after Tuesday’s chemical attack.
The attack raised international legal questions. It’s unclear what authority Trump relied on to attack another government.
President Trump announces the military action against Syria on Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach.
President Trump announces the military action against Syria on Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach. (ALEX BRANDON/AP)
Viktor Ozerev, a Russian senator who heads a defense committee, told state-run RIA Novosti that the strikes could “undercut” efforts in the fight against terrorism.
He said Russia will call for an urgent meeting of the United Nations. Russia’s deputy UN envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, warned a day earlier that any action taken against Assad would have serious consequences.
“We have to think about negative consequences, negative consequences, and all the responsibility if military action occurred will be on shoulders of those who initiated such doubtful and tragic enterprise,” he said.
The U.S. military launched dozens of cruise missiles aimed at an airfield in Syria on Thursday — in retaliation for the country’s deadly chemical weapons attack against its own citizens.
The bombardment was the first direct assault on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government taken by the U.S. since civil war broke out in the Middle East nation in 2011.
“Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched,” President Trump said late Thursday from Mar-a-Lago, his family compound in Palm Beach, Fla., following the attack.
“Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror,” he added.
“It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” Trump said.
The 59 Tomahawk missiles, fired from the USS Porter and USS Ross in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, rained down on Shayrat Air Base in Homs province in western Syria, according to the Pentagon.
The targets included “hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems and radars,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea, Friday, April 7, 2017.
U.S. fires 59 missiles at Syrian air base after chemical attack on civilians
Syrian President Bashar Assad's office on Friday described the U.S. attack as "reckless," "irresponsible," and "shortsighted." A Syrian official told The Associated Press that the attack left seven people dead and another nine injured.
A timeline of Syria’s chemical weapons use in civil war
A Syrian opposition official disputed the report, saying three soldiers and a general were killed.
The U.S. military said all of its missiles, except for one that malfunctioned, hit their targets, refuting an earlier Russian claim that only 23 made their intended contact. Six Syrian jets were destroyed in the attack, according to the Kremlin, but the air base's runway is intact.
Talal Barazi, the governor of Homs province, said a fire raged in the air base for over an hour following the assault.
Officials believe Assad’s forces launched an attack from the base using a nerve agent, likely sarin.
'Steps underway' to remove Assad, military action possible: W.H.
Syrian state TV called the U.S. strike an act of “aggression.”
The Pentagon said in a statement that Russian military officials were warned ahead of Thursday’s strike, but Secretary of State Tillerson said the U.S. did not reach out to Moscow for approval.
Russia has provided military support for the Syrian government since 2015.
“With a lot of Tomahawks flying, we didn’t want to hit any Russian planes,” a senior military official told the New York Times.
GOP defense hawks urge Trump to take out Syria's air force
Tillerson, meanwhile, said Russia had either been complicit or “simply incompetent” in failing to deliver on a 2013 commitment to help secure Syria’s chemical weapons.
TURKEY OUT / PHOTO TAKEN APRIL 4, 2017
A Syrian man holds a suffering baby victim of a chemical weapons attacks in Idlib Tuesday. (IHA VIA AP)
The strike, which countered Trump’s campaign promises to stay out of the conflict, drew praise from lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, although some cautioned that any further action would necessitate congressional approval.
“Making sure Assad knows that when he commits such despicable atrocities he will pay a price is the right thing to do,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “It is incumbent on the Trump administration to come up with a strategy and consult with Congress before implementing it.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called the strike “appropriate and just.”
Syrians dig a mass grave on Wednesday to bury the bodies of victims of a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.
Syrians dig a mass grave on Wednesday to bury the bodies of victims of a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria's northwestern Idlib province. (FADI AL-HALABI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
“Building on tonight’s credible first step, we must finally learn the lessons of history and ensure that tactical success leads to strategic progress,” Sens. John McCain (R- Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he “fully supports” the strike.
Trump “sent a strong and clear message” that “the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated,” he added.
Assad’s government was under mounting international pressure Thursday following one of the worst chemical bombings in the country’s six-year civil war.
Trump expressed his outrage over the images throughout the week.
The strike came as Trump was hosting a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping focusing in part on another security dilemma: North Korea’s nuclear program.
Trump’s actions in Syria could signal to China that the new President isn’t afraid of unilateral military steps.
The surprise assault also marked a striking reversal for Trump, who warned against the U.S. getting pulled into the Syrian civil war before he even ran for office.
Anti-Assad uprisings began in Syria in 2011 as protests broke out across the country. As opposition supporters took up arms, violence escalated and the country descended into all out civil war.
Estimates of casualties in the conflict vary between 320,000 and 470,000. It has led to the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Throughout, Assad has been accused of using banned chemical weapons to quell rebels.
Then-President Barack Obama rejected the use of a strike similar to the one used Thursday after Syria used chemical weapons in 2013.
Earlier Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provided an eerily prophetic statement when asked about Assad’s use of banned weapons.
TOPSHOT - An unconscious Syrian child is carried at a hospital in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib province, following a suspected toxic gas attack on April 4, 2017.
A suspected chemical attack killed at least 58 civilians including several children in rebel-held northwestern Syria, a monitor said, with the opposition accusing the government and demanding a UN investigation.
(Graphic Images) Horrifying aftermath of Syria's chemical attack
“I really believe that we should’ve and still should take out his airfields and prevent him from being able to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them,” she said during an interview at the Women in the World Summit.
Thursday’s bombardment came on the 100th anniversary of U.S. entry into World War I — the first conflict in which poison gas was used as a weapon.
The action was given the green-light by Trump barely 72 hours after Tuesday’s chemical attack.
The attack raised international legal questions. It’s unclear what authority Trump relied on to attack another government.
President Trump announces the military action against Syria on Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach.
President Trump announces the military action against Syria on Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach. (ALEX BRANDON/AP)
Viktor Ozerev, a Russian senator who heads a defense committee, told state-run RIA Novosti that the strikes could “undercut” efforts in the fight against terrorism.
He said Russia will call for an urgent meeting of the United Nations. Russia’s deputy UN envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, warned a day earlier that any action taken against Assad would have serious consequences.
“We have to think about negative consequences, negative consequences, and all the responsibility if military action occurred will be on shoulders of those who initiated such doubtful and tragic enterprise,” he said.
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