US launches missiles at Syria in fierce response to chemical attack that claimed 72 lives
MOSCOW has condemned the US strike on a Syrian airfield, saying the attack on a ‘sovereign state’ will damage relations between the superpowers.
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AT least seven soldiers have been killed after US President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airfield.
The Shayrat Airfield in Homs in western Syria was the target of the tomahawk missile attack.
It is the same airfield from which a chemical weapons attack was launched against civilians earlier this week.
The earlier attack, which killed at least 80 people including children, has been blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
At least seven Syrian troops were killed in the missile strike, according to AFP.
The Kremlin condemned the attack, saying it would inflict “considerable damage” on US-Russia ties.
According to Russian Interfax news agency, no Russians were hurt in the attack.
Russia said President Vladimir Putin saw the attack as “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law”.
The Kremlin claimed it has created a “serious obstacle” against forming an international coalition to fight terrorism.
ANALYSIS: Chemical attack needed a response
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Friday’s statement carried by Russian news agencies that Putin believes that the U.S. has dealt the strikes under “far-fetched pretext.”
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian opposition monitor, also said the attack killed at least six Syrian soldiers, including a general, and caused extensive damage including a dozen hangars, a fuel depot and an air defence base.
Russia has reportedly called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in response.
“I call on all civilised nations in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria,” President Trump said in confirming the attack at a press conference.
Trump said the US must “prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons”.
The Pentagon said a total of 59 tomahawk land attack missiles had been launched from the destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday.
MOBILE USERS VIEW IN LANDSCAPE FOR BEST RESULTS
Syrian state TV described the attack as an “act of aggression”.
Saudi Arabia, which supports the Syrian opposition, welcomed the missile strike, calling it a “courageous decision” by Trump. Iran, which supports the other side of the six-year war, condemned the strike, describing “unilateral action” as “dangerous.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi warned the strikes would “strengthen terrorists,” further complicating the situation in Syria.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull backed Trump’s military action.
“It is a proportionate and calibrated response to stop that airfield being used to deliver chemical weapons again but we are not at war with the Assad regime and the US has made that clear also,” he said.
“As a coalition partner we were advised shortly before the attack and we support the US in that action.
“The use of those weapons under any circumstances is illegal and abhorrent and a blatant contravention of the basic principles of humanity.
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“Australian was not involved but we remain committed to our ongoing military operations in Iraq and Syria.
“This was a single strike designed to send the strongest possible signal that this conduct will not be tolerated.
“It was shocking and horrific even by the standards of this brutal war.”
The British government also support the US attack.
Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the missiles had had the desired effect.
“Initial indications are that this strike has severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure and equipment at Shayrat Airfield, reducing the Syrian government’s ability to deliver chemical weapons,” he said.
“The intent was to deter the regime from doing this again.
“It will be the regime’s choice if there’s any more, and it will be based upon their conduct going forward.”
The US military gave Russian forces advance notice of its strikes the air base and did not hit sections of the base where the Russians were believed to be present, Davis said.
President Trump said there is “no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons”.
“On Tuesday the Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians,” he said.
“Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was slow and brutal death for so many.
“Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack.
“No child of God should ever suffer such horror. Tonight I have ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched.”
Mr Trump said the use of sarin in the attack earlier this week left the US no choice but to retaliate.
“It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” President Trump said.
“There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violating its obligations under the chemical weapons convention and ignored the urging of the UN security council.
“Years of previous attempts of 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 United States and its allies.
“Tonight I call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also end terrorism of all kinds and all types.”
“We ask for God’s wisdom as we face the challenge of our very challenged world.
“We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed and hope that as long as American stands for justice then peace and harmony will in the end prevail.”
Facing his biggest foreign policy crisis since taking office in January, Trump took the toughest direct US action yet in Syria’s six-year-old civil war.
In the process he has raised the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Assad’s two main military backers.
Trump ordered the strikes just a day after he pointed the finger at Assad for this week’s chemical attack, which killed at least 70 people, many of them children, in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun.
The Syrian government has denied it was behind the attack telling state television it had been a target of “American aggression”.
WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR TRUMP
There was widespread support for Trump after he launched the unprecedented military action.
Trump’s bitter presidential rival Hillary Clinton had even suggested in an interview in the hours before the attack Syria should be targeted by the US military.
A spokesman for Theresa May’s British government said they supported the attack.
“The UK government fully supports the U.S. 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 spokesman said.
Israel also joined Australia in supporting the attack upon the Assad regime.
Israeli Prime Minister and Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Isaac Herzog welcomed the action.
Netanyahu released a statement in the hours after the strike.
“In both word and action, President Trump sent a strong and clear message today that the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated,”the statement read.
Israel fully supports President Trump's decision.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 7, 2017
“Israel fully supports President Trump’s decision and hopes that this message of resolve in the face of the Assad regime’s horrific actions will resonate not only in Damascus, but in Tehran, Pyongyang and elsewhere.”
Herzog said the strike came at the “right time in the right place”.
AUSTRALIA MIGHT JOIN ACTION AGAINST SYRIA
Turnbull concurred with Trump when the President asserted this was a “one-off” attack.
“The political solution in Syria is a complex one,” he said
“The events of the last few days, I think, raise very real questions as to whether there can be any role for Mr Assad in any solution or settlement.
“This chemical attack was an horrific crime, shocking, even in the context of that brutal war.
Australia would consider whether or not to join further US action against al-Assad if asked by the Trump administration, the prime minister asserted
“President Trump has asked for all civilised nations to join him in seeking to bring peace to Syria and end the conflict and we have been engaged in dialogue and obviously in operations, although in the eastern part of the country for some time,” he said.
There is no question that this shocking conflict in Syria is crying out itself for a resolution and we certainly will continue to work with our allies and our partners to see a resolution to this shocking war.”
Turnbull said an end to the Syrian conflict was urgently needed.
“This was a single strike designed to reduce the ability of the Syrian regime to deliver more chemical weapons attacks from that airfield and to send a strongest possible signal that this conduct will not be tolerated,” he said.
“The Russian Government has a real responsibility here to ensure that its client, the Assad regime, complies with international law, complies with the rules of war and does not use chemical weapons.
“The fact is that this is, there is a solemn obligation on Russia too to play its part in bringing this conflict to an end.
“The whole world is crying out for a settlement in Syria and this is a time now when the United States have shown that they will not tolerate these crimes, when the United States has shown its full force in response to this
shocking chemical attack, surely now is the time when the nations of the world and the great powers engaged in the Syrian conflict zone can come together and bring this war to an end.
— with wires
Originally published as US launches missiles at Syria in fierce response to chemical attack that claimed 72 lives
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