The United States fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria Thursday night in retaliation for this week’s gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians, U.S. officials said. It was the first direct U.S. assault on the Syrian government and Donald Trump’s most dramatic military order since becoming president.
The strikes hit the government-controlled Shayrat airbase in central Syria, from where U.S. officials say the Syrian military planes that dropped the sarin gas had taken off. The U.S. missiles hit at 8:45 p.m.ET Thursday — early Friday morning in Syria.
The Tomahawk missiles were fired from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea, U.S. officials say.
Speaking Thursday night, Trump said Assad “launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians using a deadly nerve agent.”
“It was a slow and brutal death for so many,” Trump said. “Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack.
Donald Trump on airstrikes against Syria2:50
“There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council.”
The Obama administration threatened to attack Assad’s forces for previous chemical weapons attacks but never followed through.
In an address, Trump said the strike on Syria was in the “vital national security interest” of the United States.
The destroyer USS Barry launches a Tomahawk cruise missile from the ship’s bow, off the Libyan coast in March 2011. Tomahawk missiles were used in the airstrike on Syria. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Sunderman/Associated Press)
Trump called on “civilized nations” to join U.S. in “seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria.”
He also said “it is in the vital national security interests of the United States to prevent the spread and use of chemical weapons.”
Syrian state TV reported “American aggression targets Syrian military targets with a number of missiles.”
The governor of Homs said in an interview with state television that “this targeting was not the first and I don’t believe it will be the last.
However, Talal Barazi stressed, “Syrian leadership and Syrian policy will not change.”
National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump was presented with three options by military advisers Thursday for retaliating against the Syria attack.
Russians notified before attack
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement the U.S. had a “high degree of confidence” that sarin gas was used in Tuesday’s attack.
He called the strike “proportionate” and branded Syria ally Russia as “complicit or incompetent” with respect to a 2013 agreement in which all chemical weapons were to be removed from the Syrian government. The remarks come just days before Tillerson heads to Russia, the first visit by a Trump administration official.
The U.S. military gave Russian forces advance notice of its strikes and did not hit sections of the base where the Russians were believed to be present, Pentagon spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis said.
Several lawmakers on Capitol Hill also responded, with Trump supporter Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas praising the president for taking “swift, decisive action.”
Veteran senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who have often been critical of Trump in his first two months as president, called the action a “credible first step,” but stressed the need for “following through with a new, comprehensive strategy in co-ordination with our allies and partners to end the conflict in Syria.”
