‘Appropriate response’
Russia complains, but other nations rally around U.S. strikes
World leaders and U.S. lawmakers on Friday rallied around President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to launch a missile strike against a Syrian air base, the most significant military action of Trump’s young presidency.
However, Russia, one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s most important patrons, condemned the move as an act of “aggression.”
Trump, who has long warned against the U.S. getting involved in Syria’s civil war, is said to have been moved to act by the heartbreaking images of children killed in a chemical weapons attack earlier this week. Even as his advisers insisted that the strikes did not mark a significant shift in U.S. policy, Trump called on other nations to help “end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria.”
The president approved the strike while in Florida for a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump did not respond to shouted questions about the assault from reporters as he opened meetings with Xi on Friday morning.
The strikes – 59 missiles launched from the USS Ross and USS Porter – hit the government-controlled Shayrat air base in central Syria, where U.S. officials say the Syrian military planes that dropped the chemicals had taken off. The U.S. missiles hit at 8:45 p.m. in Washington, 3:45 Friday morning in Syria. The missiles targeted the base’s airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition areas, officials said.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which support the Syrian opposition, welcomed the missile strike, with Riyadh calling it a “courageous decision” by Trump.
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office says the action was “an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks.” France, Italy and Israel also welcomed the strikes.