U.S., ALLIES STRIKE SYRIA
British, French forces join missile barrage in wake of Assad’s suspected gas attack
WASHINGTON — U.S. ships and warplanes in the eastern Mediterranean launched a fiery barrage of missiles at military targets in Syria to punish the Russian-backed government in Damascus for its alleged use of poison gas against civilians last weekend, President Donald Trump announced late Friday.
Trump authorized the punitive attack against President Bashar Assad’s government and sought to cripple its chemical weapons facilities with what he called precision airstrikes. French and British forces joined the attack, Trump said in a televised address from the White House.
“We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” Trump said.
Loud explosions could be heard in the Syrian capital before dawn as he spoke.
The use of manned aircraft suggested a far more extensive attack, with more targets, than
last year’s airstrike with 59 Tomahawk missiles on a single Syrian airfield in response to a nerve gas attack. Syrian military said it was using its air defense system.
Syrian media reported that air defenses hit 13 rockets south of Damascus. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.
“Good souls will not be humiliated,” Syria’s presidency tweeted after airstrikes began.
Trump promised that the United States would not maintain an indefinite presence in the war-torn region, saying “no amount of American blood or treasure” can bring stability to the Middle East. “It is a troubled place.”
Trump’s words were echoed by his Secretary of Defense James Mattis who, in a televised briefing from the Pentagon, called the strikes a “one-time shot” but did not rule out further attacks.
The defense chief said Friday’s strikes “sent a clear message” to Assad and his “murderous lieutenants.”
Trump, for his part, called on Russia and Iran, which he said are the chief enablers of the Syrian government, to relinquish their support.
“What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?” he said.
The pre-dawn air assault Saturday raised concerns of a direct confrontation with Russia, which has an extensive network of ground-to-air missiles in Syria, as well as hundreds of troops and warplanes, and threatened to shoot down any U.S. missiles or planes that it saw as a threat.
The Pentagon’s Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, made heavy use of a special communication channel with Russia’s armed forces, called a “deconfliction line,” in recent days to gain a better picture of where Russian forces are deployed in Syria and to reassure Moscow that any U.S. strike will target only Syrian military units, facilities and equipment involved in last Saturday’s attack.
Trump’s Twitter posts and comments this week gave Syria time to move aircraft and troops out of likely target areas, and provided Moscow advance warning, making it more likely its advanced air defense batteries could succeed in shooting down U.S. cruise missiles or warplanes, complicating the Pentagon’s task of preparing a response.
It wasn’t clear whether the initial salvos presaged a broader, multiday air campaign against Syrian military command-and-control facilities, and their elaborate network of ground-to-air missile batteries, to clear the skies for allied bombers and other warplanes.
Casualties weren’t known.
Syrian troops had evacuated airports and primary military air bases in anticipation of a U.S. air attack, and reportedly moved some Syrian warplanes to Russian-controlled airfields for protection.
Fact-finding teams from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international watchdog agency based in The Hague, were expected to arrive in Douma on Saturday to collect evidence on the April 7 attack that left 43 people dead and wounded hundreds more.
U.S. officials said Syrian helicopters dropped gasfilled barrel bombs in Douma, a suburb east of Damascus. Photos and videos showed victims, including kids, foaming at the mouth and twitching in agony.
Local medics and rescue workers said some of the victims emitted an odor that suggested chlorine gas had been used. Others showed symptoms, including constriction of the pupils and convulsions, that suggested an illegal nerve agent such as sarin was mixed in.
The rebel-held town fell to Syrian forces after last week’s bombardment, and Russian troops also have entered the area. Thousands of rebels and civilians have been evacuated.
Trump had telegraphed the attack early Wednesday in a tweet that taunted Russia as well as Assad.
“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!” he wrote.
Trump’s tweet followed a Russian diplomat’s claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin had authorized shooting down any U.S. missiles aimed at Syria. The Kremlin did not confirm the warning.
Russia has disputed claims by the U.S. and its allies that Assad’s forces used lethal chemical agents against civilians in Douma.
Associated Press as well as staff writers Alexandra Zavis and Nabih Bulos in Beirut and Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed.