Allies back U.S. strike; Russia vexed
Moscow: Halting deal on jet paths in Syria
BEIRUT — World leaders rallied around the United States after it launched a missile strike early Friday on a Syrian air base in response to this week’s chemical attack.
But Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, condemned the strike and said it was suspending an agreement to minimize the risk of in-flight incidents between U.S. and Russian aircraft operating over Syria.
The overnight missile attack, which marked the first time the U.S. has directly targeted Assad’s forces, was condemned by his allies but welcomed by the Syrian opposition and its supporters, who expressed hope it signaled a turning point in the devastating 6-year-old civil war.
Assad’s office called the U.S. missile strike “reckless” and “irresponsible” and said it revealed “shortsightedness and political and military blindness to reality.”
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin believes that the U.S. strike is an “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law.”
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “Washington’s move deals a significant blow to the Russia-U.S. relations, which are already in a deplorable shape,” and poses a “serious obstacle” for creating an international coalition against terrorism.
The Syrian military said at least seven people were killed and nine wounded during the
strike on the Shayrat air base, a small installation with two runways, where aircraft often take off to bomb targets in northern and central Syria. Syrian officials also claimed that civilians, including children, were killed in the attack. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitor said the seven included a general and three soldiers.
More than 59 U.S. Tomahawk missiles hit the base at 3:45 a.m. Friday in Syria and targeted the base’s airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition areas, U.S. officials said.
They were fired from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea in retaliation for Tuesday’s deadly chemical attack in the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun, which officials said used chlorine mixed with a nerve agent, possibly sarin.
The Kremlin said just 23 of 59 missiles reached the air base, destroying six Syrian jets but leaving the runway intact.
A U.S. official said all but one of the 59 missiles struck their targets, hitting multiple aircraft and air shelters and destroying the fuel area. The official, who was not authorized to discuss initial reports, spoke on condition of anonymity.
In Moscow, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Russia would help strengthen Syrian air defenses to “protect the most sensitive Syrian infrastructure facilities.”
Konashenkov said the attack destroyed a warehouse, classrooms, a cafeteria, six Mig-23 fighter jets that were being repaired and a radar station. The runway and other aircraft were not affected, he said.
“Therefore, the military effect of the massive American missile strike on the Syrian air base was extremely small,” he said.
The bombing represents Trump’s most dramatic military order since taking office and thrusts the U.S. administration deeper into the complex Syrian conflict. Former President Barack Obama’s administration threatened to attack Assad’s forces after previous chemical attacks but never followed through.
A U.S.-led coalition has been bombing Islamic State targets in Syria since 2014, while Russia’s air force has been striking both extremist groups and Syrian rebels to aid Assad’s forces.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which support the Syrian opposition, welcomed the missile strike, with the Saudis calling it a “courageous decision” by Trump.
The British government said it was informed in advance about the strike and firmly supports the U.S. action.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said the action was “an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks.”
In a joint statement, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France said that Assad, the Syrian president, “bears sole responsibility.” Italy and Israel also welcomed the strikes.
Iran called it a “dangerous” move that would “strengthen terrorists” and exacerbate the conflict.
Bahram Ghasemi, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said in a statement that his government condemned the missile strikes, adding that they would complicate the situation in the region.
Ghasemi noted that Iran, a major victim of chemical-weapons attacks during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, condemned their use anywhere. But, he added, the accusations against Syria were unproved.
The opposition Syrian Coalition said the U.S. attack puts an end to an age of “impunity” and should herald the start of a larger campaign against Damascus.
Maj. Jamil al-Saleh, a U.S.backed rebel commander based in the area where the U.S. attack took place, said he hoped the strike would be a “turning point” in the war, which has killed an estimated 400,000 people.
DIPLOMACY STUMBLES
The U.S. initially had focused on diplomatic efforts, pressing the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution Thursday to condemn Syria’s suspected use of chemical weapons. But the vote was canceled because of differences among the 15 members.
During a special Security Council session on the airstrikes Friday, Russia’s U.N. envoy condemned what he called an “illegitimate action by the United States.”
“The consequences … for regional and international stability could be extremely serious,” Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said. “The U.S. has often talked about the need to combat international terrorism,” he said, yet it attacked the Syrian air force, which he claimed is leading that fight in Syria.
“It’s not difficult to imagine how much the spirits of terrorists have been raised by this action from the United States,” Safronkov said.
Earlier in the session, the British representative had mocked Russia, saying that Assad is making a fool of his backers by committing war crimes and rebuffing Moscow’s effort to negotiate.
“Russia sits here today humiliated by its failure to bring to heel a puppet dictator,” said Matthew Rycroft, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United Nations.
In Geneva, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy for Syria said his office is in “crisis” mode after the strike and that he soon would convene an urgent meeting of a Syrian ceasefire task force chaired by the United States and Russia. De Mistura said Russia requested the meeting, which was “agreed upon” by the U.S.
The envoy has been spearheading peacemaking efforts for nearly three years, with little progress.
Assad had been under mounting international pressure after the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun, which killed 87 people, including 31 children. Even Russia has said its support is not unconditional.
Syria denied using chemical weapons. Russia has said the toxic agents were released
when a Syrian airstrike hit a rebel chemical-weapons arsenal, and that blame should not be apportioned until a full investigation has been completed.
Russia’s military intervention in Syria has turned the balance of power in Assad’s favor, and Russia has used its veto power at the Security Council on several occasions to prevent sanctions against Syria.
The U.S. strike creates the possibility of a direct confrontation with Russia, which has forces on the ground and advanced air-defense systems capable of shooting down U.S. aircraft and missiles.
The “deconfliction” channel that Russia suspended was established in 2015 to prevent mishaps, including collisions, after Russia deployed aircraft to a base along Syria’s Mediterranean coast and began carrying out strikes on behalf of the Syrian regime. It calls for a U.S. colonel at an air base in Qatar and a Russian colonel to man a phone hotline and inform each other of where their countries’ planes are flying.
Two U.S. military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday morning that they were aware of Russia’s stated intention to suspend the channel, but it was not yet clear how losing it may affect air operations. The Pentagon was still assessing the situation, they said.
One official said Friday that communication through the hotline has continued, including after the attack.
“There’s someone who is on the other end who is talking to us,” one official said.
NO CONGRESSIONAL OK
In Washington, despite overall support for the missile attack, some vocal Republicans and Democrats reprimanded the White House for launching the strike without first getting congressional approval.
“While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the United States was not attacked,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “The president needs congressional authorization for military action as required by the Constitution, and I call on him to come to Congress for a proper debate. Our prior interventions in this region have done nothing to make us safer, and Syria will be no different.”
Said Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said on MSNBC, “You have to come to Congress.”
GOP leaders praised Trump’s order. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he supported “both the action and objective.” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called the strike “appropriate and just.” Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina declared that Trump “confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action.”
But Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., who often breaks with his party, called out Trump for not getting permission from Congress. He re-tweeted late Thursday a 2013 post from Trump aimed at Obama, who at the time was considering taking military action in Syria.
“The president must get congressional approval before attacking Syria - big mistake if he does not!” Trump wrote at the time.
In his retweet, Massie used the hashtag “#bigmistake.”
In a statement Friday, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., called Trump’s order an “illthought out military action” that “exposes the immoral hypocrisy of this administration’s policy in the Middle East.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called on Congress to immediately return to debate whether to authorize Trump to take military action against Syria.
Pelosi said in a letter to Ryan that she supports Trump’s decision but that “the American people are owed a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives.”
The House departed Thursday for a more than two-week spring break, but Pelosi wants lawmakers to “debate any decision to place our men and women in uniform in harm’s way.”
Ryan’s office said the speaker has no plans yet to reconvene the House.