[Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Assad’s government stopped its use of chemical weapons. (Photo: Associated Press)]
Washington/Damascus: US, British and French forces pounded Syria with air strikes early on Saturday in response to a poison gas attack that killed dozens of people last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
US President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House late on Friday. As he spoke, explosions rocked Damascus. British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron said the UK and France had joined in the attack, Reuters reported.
Trump said he was prepared to sustain the response until Assad’s government stopped its use of chemical weapons.
The strikes were the biggest intervention by Western powers against Assad in the country’s seven-year-old civil war and pitted the United States and its allies against Russia, which itself intervened in the war in 2015 to back Assad.
“A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad,” Trump said in a televised address from the White House. Speaking of Assad and his suspected role in last week’s chemical weapons attack, Trump said, “These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.”
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A US official told Reuters the strikes were aimed at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.
At least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus in the early hours of Saturday and smoke was seen rising over the Syrian capital, a Reuters witness said. A second witness said the Barzah district of Damascus had been hit in the strikes. Barzah is the location of a major Syrian scientific research center. At a Pentagon briefing, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford said the targets included a Syrian research facility and a chemical weapons storage facility.
A second US official said targets were being carefully selected with the aim of damaging Assad’s ability to conduct further gas attacks, while avoiding the risk of spreading poisonous fallout in civilian areas.
“The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons,” Trump said.
The US president, who has tried to build good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had sharply critical words for both Russia and Iran, which have backed Assad’s government. A second US official said targets were being carefully selected with the aim of damaging Assad’s ability to conduct further gas attacks, while avoiding the risk of spreading poisonous fallout in civilian areas.
“The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons,” Trump said.
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The US president, who has tried to build good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had sharply critical words for both Russia and Iran, which have backed Assad’s government.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed Britain's involvement in the intervention. French President Emmanuel Macron also confirmed France's involvement in the attack.
"We would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none", Theresa May said adding that the attacks were not about "regime change" or "intervening in a civil war", but were to "deter the use of chemical weapons" by the Syrian government.
Russia vows to retaliate
Russia's ambassador to the US warned that there would be consequences for the attacks, adding that it was not acceptable to insult Russia's president.
"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. "Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible," he added.
"The US - the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons - has no moral right to blame other countries", he said.
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