BEVERLY HILLS, April 06, (THEWILL) – The US has launched a missile strike against Syria, targeting Al-Shayrat airbase close to Homs, from where it said this week’s sarin nerve gas attack on Khan Sheikhun was launched.
The Pentagon said 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from warships USS Ross and Porter in the eastern Mediterranean on the orders of President Donald Trump who said the strike was a direct response to the chemical weapons attack that killed more than 70 people.
“My fellow Americans: On Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women, and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many,” Trump said in a statement.
“Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.
“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.
“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 U.N. Security Council.
“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 destabilize, threatening the United States and its allies.
“Tonight, I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. We ask for God’s wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed. And we hope that as long as America stands for justice, then peace and harmony will, in the end, prevail.”
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said Russia bore responsibility for its handling of the 2013 deal that was supposed to remove Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile revealing that there was “no discussions” with Moscow before or since the strike.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has however lent his backing to the strike followed by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Numan Kurtulmuş who also backed the US strikes.
However, in its first public response to the airstrikes, Russia has issued a strong statement condemning the US move as “aggression against a sovereign nation” saying the strikes had been carried out on an “invented pretext” and claimed the Syrian army did not have chemical weapons.
Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said views the strikes as an attempt to deflect world attention from civilian deaths in Iraq – where at least 150 people died in a series of coalition airstrikes in Mosul last month.
Iran has also condemned the strike as Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the “unilateral action is dangerous, destructive and violates the principles of international law.”
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