ADDS DETAILS
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. on Thursday fired as many as 60 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian military airbase American officials believe was used to carry out a deadly suspected chemical attack, U.S. officials confirmed.
The missiles were fired from U.S. warships in the eastern Mediterranean and hit the Shayrat Airbase at approximately 8:45 p.m. Eastern Time (1245GMT). Planes, a runway and fuel points at the base were targeted, according to a U.S. official who said strikes are completed unless a decision is made for more action.
The base is reportedly home to hardened fortifications used to house Syrian aircraft and it is unclear if the jets that were stationed there were moved before the U.S. carried out its attack.
Russia, which has propped up government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was reportedly informed of the military action prior to the strikes for deconfliction purposes.
President Donald Trump told reporters that the strikes are in the “vital national security interest” of the U.S. and urged “civilized nations” to join Washington in “seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria”.
"Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of innocent men, women and children," he said. "Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack."
Trump said there is no dispute Assad's forces used banned chemical weapons and he urged international action to cease the bloodshed and "terrorism of all kinds and all types.
Secretary of State Rex said Russia has failed to live up to an agreement signed in 2013 to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria.
“Either Russia has been complicit or Russia has been incompetent in its ability to deliver,” he said.
The strikes Thursday night are the first taken against Assad's forces since Trump assumed office at the end of January. They are a sharp departure from his reaction to a similar chemical attack in 2013 when he urged then President Barack Obama not to take action.
Trump said earlier this week that Monday's attack on the outskirts of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib province crossed "a lot of lines" and is an "affront to humanity".
He said it caused him to rethink his long-standing views on Syria and Assad.
Syrian state media called the strikes Thursday a "U.S. act of aggression".