U.S., British and French forces struck Syria with more than 100 missiles on Saturday in the first coordinated Western strikes against the Damascus government, targeting what they called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack.
President Donald Trump announced the action from the White House, saying the three allies had “marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.” As he spoke, explosions rocked Damascus. In the morning, he tweeted: “Mission accomplished.”
Major escalation
The bombing represents a major escalation in the West’s confrontation with Mr. Assad’s superpower ally Russia, but is unlikely to alter the course of a multi-sided war which has killed at least half-a-million people in the past seven years. That, in turn, raises the question of where Western countries go from here, after a volley of strikes denounced by Damascus and Moscow as reckless and pointless.
By morning, the Western countries said their bombing was over for now. Syria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of President Bashar al-Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption “morning of resilience.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties, with Damascus allies saying the buildings hit had been evacuated in advance. British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as “limited and targeted” with no intention of toppling Mr. Assad or intervening more widely in the war. She said she had authorised British action after intelligence showed Mr. Assad’s government was to blame for gassing the Damascus suburb of Douma a week ago.
In a speech she gave a vivid description of the victims of the chemical strike that killed scores, huddling in basements as gas rained down. She said Russia had thwarted diplomatic efforts to halt Mr. Assad’s use of poison gas, leaving no option but force.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes had been limited so far to Syria’s chemical weapons facilities. Paris released a dossier which it said showed Damascus was to blame for the poison gas attack on Douma, the last town holding out in a rebel-held swathe of territory near Damascus which government forces have recaptured in this year's biggest offensive.
Washington described its targets as a centre near Damascus for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weapons, a chemical weapons storage site near the city of Homs and another site near Homs that stored chemical weapons equipment and housed a command post.
U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis called the strikes a “one-time shot”, although Mr. Trump raised the prospect of further strikes if Mr. Assad’s government again used chemical weapons.
