USA, Britain and France launch airstrikes against Syria

WASHINGTON >> The United States and European allies launched airstrikes early today against Syrian research, storage and military targets as President Donald Trump sought to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people.

Britain and France joined the United States in the strikes in a coordinated operation intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called persistent violations of international law. Trump characterized it as the beginning of a sustained effort to force Assad to stop using banned weapons but ordered only a limited one-night operation that hit three targets.

“These are not the actions of a man,” Trump said of last weekend’s attack in a televised address from the White House Diplomatic Room. “They are crimes of a monster instead.”

While he has talked as recently as last week about pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, the president vowed to remain committed to the goal of preventing further attacks with deadly poisons. “We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” Trump said.

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But Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who had urged caution in White House deliberations leading up to the strike, told reporters Friday night that there would be no more attacks unless Assad again used gas on his own people.

“We confined it to the chemical weapons-type targets,” Mattis said. “We were not out to expand this; we were very precise and proportionate. But at the same time it was a heavy strike.”