The chemical attack on Syrian civilians this week caused an outcry from much of the world. Now, the U.S. is taking repercussions into its own hands.
At around 8:40 p.m. Thursday night, President Donald Trump launched a military strike on the Syrian government. As such, U.S. warships launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Officials were aiming at aircraft, aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition bunkers, air defense systems and other operative materials.
The missile strike landed at Al Shayrat Airfield, where, earlier this week, the Syrian government launched chemical attacks. The strike killed six people. President Trump’s military action is the first time the U.S. took action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
President Trump said that the strike was an act of chemical warfare prevention.
“There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council,” he explained. “Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically.”
Russians were present at the airbase during the attack. However, officials do not yet know why Russians were at the base. The U.S. warned Russia of its plans prior to the attack.
Why did the military strike happen?
President Trump spearheaded the decision to strike after seeing images from Tuesday’s chemical attack that left more than 80 people dead. Since seeing the images, Trump claims his attitude toward Syria changed dramatically.
“When you kill innocent children—innocent babies—babies—little babies with a chemical gas that is so lethal, people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines,” he said. “Beyond a red line. Many, many lines.”
Officials have radar images showing a Syrian airplane conducting the chemical strike. Additionally, another image demonstrated bomb craters near the airbase. Accordingly, U.S. officials are extremely confident the regime conducted the recent attack.
