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Associated Press

US President Donald Trump called on “all civilised nations” to join the US in seeking an end to the carnage in Syria, after he ordered the launch of a massive barrage of cruise missiles into the country in retaliation for this week’s gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians.
It was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Donald Trump’s most dramatic military order since becoming president.
The US Department of Defence released video that it said showed showing cruise missiles being launched in the attack. Dozens of the missiles hit the Shayrat air base in central Syria, where US officials say the Syrian military planes that dropped the chemicals had taken off. The US missiles hit at 3.45am on Friday in Syria.
What do US missile strikes mean for Assad, Trump and Putin?
Trump said the attack was in the “vital national security interest” of the US.
He said the United States must “prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons”, and there is “no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons.”
He added that “peace and harmony will prevail” so long as the US continues to stand for justice.
The Syrian army said that six people were killed and serious damage caused by the strike.
“The United States carried out a flagrant aggression with missiles against one of our airbases in the central region, killing six people and wounding a number of others, and causing significant damage,” a spokesman said, reading from a statement on state television.

Here's video from the #Tomahawk launches against #Syria. For more on the story, visit https://t.co/2GprTQGGjs. pic.twitter.com/kB3gbBy4ma
— U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) April 7, 2017

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The surprise US assault marked a striking reversal for Trump, who warned as a candidate against the US getting pulled into the Syrian civil war, now in its seventh year. But the president appeared moved by the photos of children killed in the chemical attack, calling it a “disgrace to humanity” that crossed “a lot of lines”.
About 60 US Tomahawk missiles, fired from warships in the Mediterranean Sea, targeted an air base in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack that American officials believe Syrian government aircraft launched with a nerve agent, possibly sarin.
The president did not announce the attacks in advance, though he and other national security officials ratcheted up their warnings to the Syrian government throughout the day Thursday.
“I think what happened in Syria is one of the truly egregious crimes and shouldn’t have happened and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” Trump told reporters travelling on Air Force One to Florida, where he was holding a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The strike came as Trump was hosting Xi in meetings focused in part on another pressing US security dilemma: North Korea’s nuclear programme. Trump’s actions in Syria could signal to China that the new president isn’t afraid of unilateral military steps, even if key nations like China are standing in the way.
22 members of one family died in Syria gas massacre
Trump has advocated greater counterterrorism cooperation with Russia, Assad’s most powerful military backer. Just last week, the Trump administration signalled the US was no longer interested in trying to push Assad from power over his direction of a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and led to the worst refugee crisis since the second world war.


US military officials sought to portray the strikes as an appropriate, measured response. But the assault still risks plunging America into the middle of Syria’s conflict, complicating the safety of the hundreds of US forces fighting a separate campaign against the Islamic State group in the north of the country. If Assad’s military persists in further gas attacks, the Trump administration might logically pursue increased retaliation.
Trump: Syria gas attack changed my mind about Assad
Russia and Iran, Assad’s allies, pose other problems. Russian military personnel and aircraft are embedded with Syria’s, and Iranian troops and paramilitary forces are also on the ground helping Assad fight the array of opposition groups hoping to topple him.
Before the strikes, US military officials said they informed their Russian counterparts of the impending attack. The goal was to avoid any accident involving Russian forces.
Nevertheless, Russia’s Deputy UN ambassador Vladimir Safronkov warned that any negative consequences from the strikes would be on the “shoulders of those who initiated such a doubtful and tragic enterprise.”
Trump’s decision to attack Syria came three-and-a-half years after President Barack Obama threatened Assad with military action after an earlier chemical weapons attack killed hundreds outside of Damascus. Obama had declared the use of such weapons a “red line.” At the time, several American ships in the Mediterranean were poised to launch missiles, only for Obama to abruptly pull back after key US ally Britain and the US Congress balked at his plan.
He opted instead for a Russian-backed plan that was supposed to remove and eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles.
Thursday night’s strikes were launched from the USS Ross and USS Porter and landed in the early morning Friday in Syria.
The world learned of the chemical attack earlier in the week in footage that showed people dying in the streets and bodies of children stacked in piles. The international outcry fueled an emotional response from Trump, who appeared to abandon his much-touted “America First” vision for a stance of humanitarian intervention, akin to that of previous American leaders. “I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity,” he said on Thursday.

Trump seemed to rapidly reconsider his feelings about Assad, saying: “He’s there and I guess he’s running things, so something should happen.”
The drama played out as Trump and his top national security aides were meeting Chinese President Xi at a Florida summit, which was supposed to focus on another pressing US security dilemma: What to do about North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.
Thursday’s action in Syria could also send a message to China. Washington is trying to persuade Beijing to adopt a tougher approach to its North Korean ally, much like the U.S. pressure campaign with the Russians on Syria. And the strikes in Syria show the Chinese that Trump isn’t afraid of unilateral military steps to advance American interests, even if key nations are standing in the way.

The show of force in Syria raises legal questions. It’s unclear what authority Trump is relying on to attack another government. When Obama intervened in Libya in 2011, he used a U.N. Security Council mandate and NATO’s overall leadership of the mission to argue that he had legal authority – arguments that many Republicans opposed. Trump can’t rely on either justification here.
Unclear also is whether Trump is adopting any broader effort to combat Assad. Under Obama, the United States largely pulled back from its support for so-called “moderate” rebels when Russia’s military intervention in September 2015 led them to suffer a series of battlefield defeats. Instead, Obama sought to work with Russia on a negotiated transition.
Trump and his top aides had acknowledged in recent days the “reality” of Assad being in power, saying his ouster was no longer a priority. But the chemical weapons attack seemed to spur a rethink. In Florida on Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said of Assad: “There’s no role for him to govern the Syrian people.”

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Syrian conflict

US strikes Syrian airbase with dozens of cruise missiles before Trump urges ‘civilised nations’ to end carnage of civil war

A Tomahawk cruise missile streaks away from the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter on Friday, as part of a barrage on a Syrian airbase. Photo: EPA

REFILE - ADDITIONAL CAPTION INFORMATIONU.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea which U.S. Defense Department said was a part of cruise missile strike against Syria on April 7, 2017. Robert S. Price/Courtesy U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY 

epa05893613 A handout photo made available by the US Department of Defense on 07 April 2017 shows an aerial view of the al-Shayrat Airfield near Homs, Syria, 07 October 2016. According to media reports on 07 April 2017, The United States military launched at least 50 tomahawk cruise missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria, in response to the Syrian military's alleged use of chemical weapons in an airstrike in a rebel held area in Idlib province on 04 April. EPA/US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) departs Rota, Spain, on March 29, 2017. The United States fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria Thursday night in retaliation for this week’s gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians, the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Donald Trump’s most dramatic military order since becoming president. The Tomahawk missiles were fired from warships USS Porter and USS Ross in the Mediterranean Sea. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert S. Price/U.S. Navy via AP)

epa05893612 A handout photo made available by the US Navy Office of Information shows the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) conducting strike operations while in the Mediterranean Sea, 07 April 2017. According to media reports on 07 April 2017, the United States military launched at least 50 tomahawk cruise missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria, in response to the Syrian military's alleged use of chemical weapons in an airstrike in a rebel held area in Idlib province on 04 April. EPA/SEAMAN FORD WILLIAMS / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Ivanka Trump, the daughter and assistant to President Donald Trump, third from left, stands next to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross listen as President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago, Thursday, April 6, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. At rights is White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump prepares to speak at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, April 6, 2017, after the U.S. fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria Thursday night in retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin accused of using ‘starvation as weapon of war’ in Aleppo

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2015. Photo: EPA

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Video | US strikes Syrian airbase with dozens of cruise missiles before Trump urges ‘civilised nations’ to end carnage of civil war