Missile attack on Syria backed by UK

BRITAIN has backed the US missile strike on a Syrian air base as an “appropriate response” to the Bashar Assad regime’s “barbaric” chemical attack.

The Government has offered its full support to US president Donald Trump’s targeted assault on the base from where he said a devastating nerve agent strike on civilians was launched.

The surprise barrage of 59 cruise missiles in the early hours of today was the first direct US attack on the Syrian government.

Mr Trump was reacting to the attack on Tuesday that killed at least 72 people, including 20 children, which he said was launched by Syrian president Assad.

On Friday morning, a No 10 spokeswoman said: “Overnight, the US has taken military action against the Syrian regime, targeting the airfield in Shayrat which was used to launch the chemical weapons attack earlier this week.

“The UK Government fully supports the US action, which we believe was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks.”

Speaking from Florida, Mr Trump announced his strike in an emotional message to the public in which he evoked i mages of children dying.

“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,” he 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 the 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 Syria used banned chemical weapons.”

US Tomahawk missiles, launched from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea, targeted airstrips, hangars, control towers and ammunition areas in Sharyat, central Syria, according to officials.

They suspect a mixture of chlorine and a nerve agent were used in Syria’s attack on the largely opposition-held Idlib province.

Major Jamil al-Saleh, a Syrian opposition commander whose district has been hit by chemical weapons, welcomed the US attack and hopes it will be a “turning point” in the six-year civil war.

The Syrian Coalition opposition group also backed the move.

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A US missile is launched