In a combined operation, the US, Britain and France today launched military strikes against Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, President Donald Trump announced, as he alleged the war-torn nation of using chemical weapons against its own people.

The US president claimed that the joint action was meant to establish a “strong deterrent” against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons.

Trump said he has ordered “precision strikes” against Syria, where dozens of people were killed last weekend in a suspected toxic gas attack on Douma, the largest town in a former rebel stronghold outside Damascus.

“These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead,” Trump said in an address to the nation.

Describing the strike as a deterrent, Trump said the US would maintain pressure on Syria until the Assad regime suspends use of chemical weapons.

“America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria,” he said, thanking the UK and France for joining the US in its fight against the Syrian regime.

“Today, the nations of Britain, France, and the United States of America have marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality,” Trump said.

He attacked the Assad regime for “deploying chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians”, referring to the alleged atrocity in Douma last Saturday.

“This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime,” Trump alleged.

“The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead,” he said.

The US president sought to bring back the vestiges of World War I, after which civilised nations joined together to ban chemical warfare.

He noted that chemical weapons not only inflict gruesome suffering but also even small amounts of them can unleash widespread devastation.

“The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States,” Trump said.

“The combined American, British, and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power — military, economic, and diplomatic. We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” he said.

Trump said he also has a message for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping, and financing the criminal Assad regime.

“To Iran, and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?” he asked.

“The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants, and murderous dictators,” he said.

Trump said Assad’s recent attack was a fallout of Russia’s “failure” to keep the promise of eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons.

“In 2013, President Putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons. Assad’s recent attack are the direct result of Russia’s failure to keep that promise,” Trump said.

“Russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path, or if it will join with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace. Hopefully, someday we’ll get along with Russia, and maybe even Iran — but maybe not,” he said.

The US president said America, being the world’s greatest and most powerful economy, has a lot to offer.

“In Syria, the United States — with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of ISIS — is doing what is necessary to protect the American people. Over the last year, nearly 100 percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq has been liberated and eliminated,” he said.

The US, UK and France launched coordinated strikes against Syrian research, storage and military targets as President Donald Trump sought to “punish” his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack that killed over 70 people, media reports said.

The strikes on Friday night was intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called persistent violations of international law, reports The New York Times.

“I ordered the US armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad,” Trump said from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room.

“The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power: military, economic and diplomatic,” Trump said.

In his speech, Trump deemed the chemical attack in Douma as “Not the actions of a man… They are crimes of a monster instead.”

Trump indicated the strikes would continue until the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons ends, reports CNN.

“We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” he added.

The strikes targeted three facilities associated with Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, including a scientific research facility around Damascus, a chemical weapons storage facility around Homs alleged to be used for sarin gas and a nearby command post, according to the Pentagon.

The Syrian Observatory said the Syrian Army’s 4th Division and Republican Guard were among the targets.

US aircraft including B-1 bombers and ships were used in the attack, US defence officials said.

Witnesses told CNN that they heard explosions in Damascus which began while Trump was making his address.

The capital city’s residents woke to the sounds of multiple explosions shaking the city before the dawn call to prayer.

The city and the hills are surrounded by military facilities, and it appeared that these were among the first targets, reports The New York Times.

Syrian state television said government air defence systems were responding to “the American aggression” and aired video of missiles being fired into a dark night sky.

It was not clear if they hit anything. It reported that 13 missiles had been shot down by Syrian air defences near Al-Kiswa, a town south of Damascus.

The targets were chosen to minimise the risk of accidentally hitting Russian troops stationed in Syria, according to Gen. James F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday night that the strike was completed and was designed as a one-night operation.

“Right now this is a one-time shot and I believe it has sent a very strong message to dissuade him to deter him from doing it again,” he said.

The strikes marked the second time that Trump has attacked Syria to punish the government after it was accused of using chemical weapons.

In April 2017, the US fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base in retaliation to a chemical attack that killed over 100 people.

While France and Britain joined the US, Germany refused to take part, even though Chancellor Angela Merkel called the use of chemical weapons “unacceptable”, The New York Times reported.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Syria had left the allies no choice.

“This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped… Not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons,” she said.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah does not believe the latest Syria crisis will spiral into a direct US-Russia conflict or a wider all-out war, its deputy leader said in comments published on Friday.

The heavily armed and Iranian-backed Shia movement has been a vital military ally of President Bashar al-Assad in the seven-year-old Syrian war.

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“The conditions do not point to a total war … unless (US President Donald) Trump and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu completely lose their minds,” he said.

Trump has threatened strikes against Assad’s forces after a suspected gas attack on a rebel town where dozens of people died, and a Russian envoy has voiced fears of a wider conflict between Washington and Moscow.

The threat of confrontation between Russia, the Syrian state’s key ally, and the West loomed after Trump said on Wednesday missiles “will be coming” and lambasted Moscow for standing by Assad.

Trump has tempered those remarks since and even as he consulted allies Britain and France, there were signs of efforts to prevent the crisis from spiralling out of control.

The White House said “no final decision has been made” on Syria after Trump met his national security team on Thursday.

ISRAELI STRIKE

Damascus with its main backers, Russia and Iran, have accused rebels and rescuers of fabricating reports of the Douma attack and Washington of seeking to use it as a pretext for attacking the Syrian army.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress on Thursday he believed there had been a chemical attack, but added shortly after there was no decision on launching military action.

Asked about possible spillover into Lebanon, Qassem said: “If the assault on Syria has a very limited scope, then it’s expected that reactions from the concerned sides in Syria will be tied to the Syrian arena.”

Iran’s expanding power in Syria has caused deep alarm in Israel, which has mounted air strikes in Syria against what it describes as Hezbollah and Iranian targets.

Tehran has threatened to respond to an air strike on a Syrian military base on Monday which it blamed on Israel, as did Damascus and Moscow.

Qassem said the strike, which killed seven Iranians, was an assault “on both Syria and Iran that has consequences which I do not know the limit of now”.

Hezbollah, which last fought a major war with Israel in 2006, would not open a new front against its arch-foe from Lebanon, he said. “But the resistance is ready for surprises.”

Hezbollah does not expect Israel to launch a war for now but is prepared for one, Qassem told Reuters in an interview last month.