President Trump has launched a military strike against a Syrian airbase controlled by President Bashar al-Assad in response to reports of a chemical weapons attack against civilians by the regime.

It’s the first time the US has intervened with military force against President Assad.

“Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the air base in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched,” Trump said, in a statement made from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “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 has, in the past, decried the idea of military action in Syria, but yesterday called the chemical attack an “affront to humanity” claiming that his “attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much.” 

The US military launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at 8:45 p.m. EST, targeting an airbase in al-Shayrat, northeast Syria. The Pentagon has stated that the objective was to take out aircrafts, radar, ammunition supplies, and more. According to The Guardian, Syrian officials have announced that seven died in the attack, with a further nine wounded. CNN reports that the strike could be interpreted by the Syrian government as an act of war.

The chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun killed at least 80 people, mostly women and children. Hundreds more are confirmed injured. The BBC has reported that symptoms included choking and foaming of the mouth. The Syrian military denied using deadly toxins, whilst a statement from Russia claimed, without supplying evidence, that a Syrian airstrike on a rebel ammunition depot struck an onsite munitions workshop that held the chemicals.

Russia, a close ally of President Assad, has described the strike as “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law", and have demanded an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the action. The UNSC will meet at 11:30 a.m. EST Friday.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was due to visit the Kremlin next week - it is unclear at this moment if this meeting will still go ahead.

The UK has joined numerous world governments in backing the strike. Australia, Israel, Japan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have supported the military action, as France and Germany issued a joint statement saying that Assad “bears full responsibility." Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, has remarked that “the EU will work with the US to end brutality in Syria.”

"I'm very clear that there can be no future for Assad in a stable Syria which is representative of all the Syrian people and I call on all the third parties involved to ensure that we have a transition away from Assad,” May said earlier in response to the chemical attack. "We cannot allow this suffering to continue."

Hillary Clinton, who gave an interview Thursday night at Tina Brown's Women in the World Summit in New York, also called for a military repsonse to the chemical attaack. 

“It’s time the Russians are afraid of us because it's time we stand up for the human rights of Syrian people,” she said. “I really believe that we should have and still should take out his air fields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them."

Syria responded to the airstrike today, saying it was a "flagrant aggression" and calling it a "premeditated action that aimed to justify the launching of a US attack on the Syrian army," according to the AP. 

This story will be updated as more details emerge.

TopicstrumpsyriaBashar Al-AssadUS MilitaryAirstrikes

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President Trump Launches Airstrike On Syria In Response To Chemical Weapons Attack

By James Hitchings-Hales