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US launch airstrike on Syrian airfield after chemical weapons attack
Early this morning the US launched air strikes against the Syrian regime in retaliation for Tuesday’s chemical weapon attack.
Fifty-nine Tomahawk missiles were launched from US warships USS Ross and Porter in the eastern Mediterranean and struck the Shayrat air base in central Syria, from where it said this week’s chemical weapon attack on Khan Sheikhun was launched.
The air base is also the site that was known to store chemical weapons before the 2013 agreement to remove them between Syria and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
According to the Pentagon the air strikes targeted “aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defence systems, and radars”.
US President Donald Trump said the strike was a direct response to the chemical weapons attack that has killed more than 70 people.
He said: “Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. [President Bashar] Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children… no child of God should ever suffer such horror.”
Trump also appealed to the international community to “join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come out in support of Trump, saying the air strikes
“sent a strong and clear message today that the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated”.
He added: “Israel fully supports President Trump’s decision and hopes that this message of resolve in the face of the [Syrian President] Assad regime’s horrific actions will resonate not only in Damascus, but in Tehran, Pyongyang and elsewhere.”
Similarly, the UK government has responded with support to the US air strike. It released a statement saying: “The UK Government fully supports the US action, which we believe was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks.”
The strikes are the first direct military action the US has taken against the leadership of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s six-year civil war, and represent a substantial escalation of the US military campaign in the region, which could be interpreted by the Syrian government as an act of war.