Trump praises military, defends impact of strike on Syria

PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump has praised the US military for carrying out the missile attack on a Syrian airfield and struck back at mounting questions over whether it would help achieve a momentum shift in Syria’s civil war.

In a Saturday afternoon tweet, Trump defended the operation against criticism from some members of Congress and military analysts that the night-time volley of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles two days earlier did not target the runways at the Shayrat air base in eastern Syria.

Administration officials have said the attack successfully destroyed refuelling stations, hangars and some planes, effectively making the base inoperable.

“The reason you don’t generally hit runways is that they are easy and inexpensive to quickly fix (fill in and top)!” Trump wrote on Twitter from Mar-a-Lago, after playing a round at the nearby Trump International Golf Club.

The president is spending the weekend there after a two-day summit at his winter estate with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In an earlier message, Trump said: “Congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the US, and the world, so well in the Syria attack.”

The White House has sought to cast the mission – in response to evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime had carried out an attack on civilians with the nerve agent sarin – as a major success in putting Assad on notice that he can no longer use such weapons without consequences.

Officials said that Trump had spoken with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who offered support.