US launches missile strike on Syria airbase after 'chemical weapons attack'

WASHINGTON: The Unite States on Thursday night fired more than 50 cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase in response to the chemical attacks carried out by Assad’s regime against civilian population resulting in causalities of 70 people earlier this week.

About 60 tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from a number of warships stationed in the Mediterranean Sea.

According to US newspaper, the missiles struck an airbase called Shayrat in Homs province, which is the site from which the planes that conducted the chemical attack in Idlib are believed to have originated. The targets included air defenses, aircraft, hangars and fuel.

The Russian military, who were thought to have a presence at the air base, were informed by the Pentagon about the air strikes before the missiles struck.

The US military said initial indications were that the strike had “severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircrafts and support infrastructure.”

DONALD TRUMP ORDERS MILITARY STRIKE

In wake of the chemical attacks, earlier this week, President Donald Trump had ordered for a massive airstrike on a Syrian airbase in retaliation for a ‘barbaric’ chemical attack he blamed on President Bashar al-Assad.

In a brief televised address delivered hours after the UN Security Council failed to agree on a proof into the apparent chemical attack, Trump confirmed the US strike on Syria and urged “all civilized nations” to unite to end the bloodshed in the country.

“On Tuesday Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians using a deadly nerve agent,” Trump 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 this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” Trump said.

Trump added that there is “no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons.”

“What Assad did is terrible. What happened in Syria is truly one of the egregious crimes and it shouldn’t have happened. And it shouldn’t be allow to happen,” he said.

“He’s [Assad] there, and I guess he’s running things, so I guess something should happen.”

ERDOGAN BLAMES ASSAD FOR SUSPECTED SYRIA CHEMICAL ATTACK

Separately early this week, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the Syrian government for a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people including children, calling President Bashar al-Assad a “murderer”.

At least 72 people, among them 20 children, were killed in Tuesday’s attack in rebel-held Khan Sheikhun, and dozens more were left gasping for air, convulsing and foaming at the mouth, doctors said.

Erdogan, in his first public reaction to the incident, said that more than 100 people, including children, “became martyrs due to chemical weapons”.