President Donald Trump ordered a massive military strike on a Syrian air base on Thursday (early Firday UAE) in retaliation for a “barbaric” chemical attack he blamed on President Bashar Al Assad.
In a brief televised address delivered hours after the UN Security Council failed to agree on a prove into the apparent chemical attack, Trump confirmed the US strike on Syria and urged “all civilized nations” to unite to end the bloodshed in the country.
Update:
[All times Dubai]
10.12am - Putin says US strikes on Syria illegal, harm US-Russia ties
Moscow (Reuters): Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that U.S. cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base broke international law and have seriously hurt US-Russia relations, news agencies cited the Kremlin as saying on Friday. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying that the Russian leader, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, regarded the US action as "aggression against a sovereign nation" on a "made-up pretext" and as a cynical attempt to distract the world from civilian deaths in Iraq. Peskov was quoted as saying that Russia did not believe that Syria possessed chemical weapons and that the US move would inevitably create a serious obstacle to creating an international coalition to fight terrorism, an idea that Putin has repeatedly pushed.
10.10am – Poland says US guarantees world peace
A Polish government spokesman, reacting to the attack on Syria, said the United States are guarantors of world peace. The spokesman said: “There are times when you need to react.”
Trump's statement
“On Tuesday Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians using a deadly nerve agent,” Trump said. “Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack.”
“Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”
“Tonight I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end this slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types,” Trump said.
The US military fired dozens of cruise missiles at the Shayrat Airfield at 8.45pm Eastern Time (4.45am Friday UAE), officials said. A White House official said 59 “precision munitions” had been blasted at the base, while a US defence official said “dozens” of Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched.
The missiles were fired from the USS Porter and the USS Ross, which belong to the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet and are located in the eastern Mediterranean. A US official said the missiles targeted aircraft and runways at the base.
Stunning development
The sudden US military action against the Al Assad regime marks a stunning development in Syria’s brutal, six-year conflict and a sudden about-face for Trump.
It came despite a warning from Russia of potential “negative consequences” if Washington strikes Syria.
“All responsibility if military action occurs will be on the shoulders of those who initiated such a doubtful tragic enterprise,” Russian Ambassador to the UN Vladimir Safronkov said.
A US official said Washington had informed Russia ahead of the Syria strike.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had earlier vowed an “appropriate response” to the attack in Khan Sheikhun in rebel-held Idlib province, which killed at least 86 people, including 27 children.
The White House official said the United States assesses that the Al Assad regime used a chemical nerve agent consistent with sarin in Tuesday’s attacks.
Syrian denial
The fast-moving events come just days after the Trump administration had signalled it was no longer seeking the Syrian leader’s departure from power.
The attack on Khan Sheikhun appears to have marked a turning point for Trump and his administration.
On Wednesday Trump decried the attack as an “affront to humanity.” He seemed horrified by photographs showing dead children and victims suffering convulsions, breathing problems and foaming at the mouth.
“It crossed a lot of lines for me,” Trump said, alluding to Barack Obama’s failure to enforce his own “red line” on the use of chemical weapons in Syria four years ago.
In 2013, Trump had urged then-president Obama not to intervene against Al Assad.
In a startling about-turn, Tillerson called Thursday for “a political process that would lead to [Al] Assad leaving” and said his future role in the country was “uncertain.”
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Thursday repeated the regime’s denial it conducted a chemical strike.
“The Syrian army has not, did not and will not use this kind of weapons — not just against our own people, but even against the terrorists that attack our civilians with their mortar rounds,” he said.
Russia has stood by its longtime ally, with President Vladimir Putin warning against a rush to judgment.
Putin underlined “the unacceptability of making unfounded accusations against anyone before a thorough and impartial international investigation is carried out.”
The UN children’s agency UNICEF says at least 546 people were wounded in the suspected chemical attack.
More than 30 people were transferred across the border into Turkey for treatment, and Ankara said a preliminary probe found a link between these injuries and sarin.
SNC opposition welcomes strikes
The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) opposition group welcomed the US strikes that hit a Syrian army airbase and said it hoped they continue to stop Syrian government air strikes and "use of internationally banned weapons", an SNC media official said on Friday.
The US missile strike near the Syrian city of Homs on Friday is not believed to have caused "big human casualties" but has caused material damage, Homs Governor Talal Barazi told Reuters.
Barazi said the attack served the interests of "armed terrorist groups" including Daesh, adding that the targeted air base had been providing air support for army operations against Daesh east of Palmyra.
"I believe — God willing — that the human casualties are not big, but there is material damage. We hope there are not many victims and martyrs," he told Reuters by telephone.
Speaking at dawn, he said rescue and fire-fighting operations had been going on for two hours at the base. He said the attack was a form of "support for the armed terrorist groups, and it is an attempt to weaken the capabilities of the Syrian Arab Army to combat terrorism".
Speaking to Syrian state TV, Barazi said: "The Syrian leadership and Syrian policy will not change. "This targeting was not the first and I don't believe it will be the last," he added.
In separate comments to Al-Mayadeen, a Lebanese TV station, he said: "The war against terrorism will continue."
_resources1_16a3106a819_small.jpg)
