McCain, Flake on airstrikes

Senators are quick to voice support.

Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake on Thursday were quick to voice support for President Donald Trump’s decision to hammer Syria with Tomahawk cruise missiles in reaction to its government’s suspected use of chemical weapons in its ongoing civil war.

Calling the use of a deadly nerve agent on civilians “barbaric,” Trump said the missiles targeted Syrian President Bashar Assad’s “airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched.”

“I assumed it was coming, and I’m AglraidzotnhaatRiet phuabs,l”icF. lake, R-Ariz., told

The Flake is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and expects an official briefing on the U.S. missile strikes on Friday.

Though Flake has been pushing for, and still wants, passage of a new authorization of the use of military force for the fight against Islamic State militants in the region, he said Trump was right to hit Syrian President Bashar Assad’s airfield without going to Congress first.

“This is something that there has been agreement on with regard to chemical weapons, which we have conventions on and protocols already outlined in international law,” Flake said. “I’m glad we took decisive action here.”

McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, applauded Trump and the military for sending “an important message the United States will no longer stand idly by as Assad, aided and abetted by (Vladimir) Putin’s Russia, slaughters innocent Syrians with chemical weapons and barrel bombs.”

“Unlike the previous administration, mProemsiednetntinTruSmyrpiacoannfdronttoeodk aapcitvioonta,”l McCain, R-Ariz., said in a joint statement with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “For that, he deserves the support of the American people.”

McCain and Graham called on Trump to follow through with “a new, comprehensive strategy in coordination with our allies and partners” to end the ongoing Syrian civil war.