US launches cruise missiles on Syrian airbase

Syrian army denounces ‘aggression’ after US launches nearly 60 missile strikes following suspected gas attack in Idlib.

The US blasted a Syrian air base with a barrage of cruise missiles in fiery retaliation for this week’s chemical attack [AP]

by Al Jazeera

The United States on Friday fired dozens of cruise missiles at a government-controlled airbase in Syria, in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town that killed scores of civilians.

The Pentagon said 59 Tomahawk missiles hit Shayrat airfield in Homs province, from where US officials believe the Syrian jets that dropped the chemicals in Khan Sheikhoun this week had taken off.

At least six people were killed in the strikes in the early hours of Friday, according to the Syrian army, which denounced the US “aggression” as a violation of international law.

In a statement carried by the state-run SANA news agency and read on television, the military said the US strikes were done on a “pretext” of the Khan Sheikhoun attack, without the full facts being disclosed.

It also said the missile strikes, which inflicted heavy damage on the base, made the US a partner of “terrorist groups”.

The strikes, launched from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea, targeted the base’s airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition areas, officials said.

It was the first direct military action the US has taken against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in the six-year war.

“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,” US President Donald Trump said.

Syria’s opposition National Coalition hailed the US strike, saying it puts an end to an age of “impunity” and should be just the beginning.

Russia, a key military ally of the Assad government, strongly condemned the strikes, saying Washington’s action would “inflict major damage on US-Russia ties”, according to Russian news agencies.

At least 86 people, including 27 children, were killed after a suspected poison gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The attack drew widespread international condemnation and public revulsion, prompting the United Nations to pledge it would investigate it as a possible war crime.

The Syrian govenment denied carrying out the raid.

Russia has blamed the opposition, saying a government shell hit a building where rebels were producing chemical weapons. The rebels deny this.