Trump launches missile strikes on Syrian airbase in response to chemical attack

Donald Trump said the action was vital to deter future use of poison gas and called on other nations to join in to help “end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria”.

The action – the first US intervention in Syria’s six-year war – drew immediate condemnation from Russia, with Vladimir Putin calling it an “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law”.

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Fifty-nine Tomahawk missiles were fired from two warships – the USS Porter and USS Ross – in the Mediterranean Sea, targeting the government-controlled Shayrat airfield near the city of Homs.

Mr Trump said the strike targeted the airbase from which the chemical attack on a rebel-held town in the north of Syria was launched on Tuesday.

The missiles struck their targets, which also included Syrian aircraft and fuel stations, at 4.40am local time on Friday.

Syrian state TV described the US missile attack as “American aggression”, and the state news agency said at least nine civilians, including four children, were killed.

Russia, however, said four Syrian soldiers were killed, two were missing and six wounded.

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The US action comes days after at least 80 people, many of them children, were killed in a poison gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, that has been blamed on the regime of Syrian president Bashar al Assad.

Shortly after the US campaign, airstrikes hit Khan Sheikhoun again, according to a witness and a war monitoring group.

In an address to the nation from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Mr Trump said: “It is in the vital national security interests of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of chemical weapons.

“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behaviour have all failed and failed very dramatically.

“As a result the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilise, threatening the US and its allies.”

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The Kremlin said Mr Putin believes the action would damage ties between Moscow and Washington and are a “serious obstacle” to the creation of an international coalition to fight terrorism. Moscow also called for a meeting of the UN Security Council.

Downing Street said the UK Government “fully supports” the military action, calling it “an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack” which “is intended to deter further attacks”.

Mr Trump had said during the campaign that he would not be drawn into Syria’s conflict. But the chemical attack changed his view on the situation, he said, as haunting images of harmed children shocked the world.

He called the attack “one of the truly egregious crimes” that “shouldn’t have happened and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen”.

The Syrian government has denied being behind that attack and the Russian government warned against apportioning blame until an investigation had been carried out.

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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US strikes were “proportionate” and showed the President was willing to act when other countries “cross the line”.

He also blamed Russia for failing to uphold a 2013 agreement to secure Syria’s chemical weapons, saying Moscow had been either “complicit or incompetent”.

Mr Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama had threatened to attack Mr Assad’s forces for previous chemical weapons attacks, but never went ahead.

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Sky News US Correspondent Cordelia Lynch said: “This is months after Donald Trump said he wouldn’t intervene in Middle Eastern wars – he didn’t want to get involved in the affairs of other nations.”

Mr Trump’s intervention raises the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Syria’s two main military allies.

Russia has backed Syria since September 2015, also using its veto power in the UN Security Council on several occasions to prevent sanctions against Damascus.

The US informed Russian forces ahead of its attack on Syria and did not target sections of the base where they were believed to be present. – news.sky.com