SyriaU.S. strikes Syrian airbase from which Assad forces launched sarin gas attack
The United States has launched fifty-nine Tomahawk cruise missiles on a Syrian airfield from which Syrian military planes three days ago flew to carry out a sarin gas attack against Sunni civilians in the rebel-held Idlib province. More than eighty people, including thirteen children, were killed in the attack – and in a subsequent attack by the Syrian Air Force which destroyed the hospital to which many of the victims of the gas attack were taken. The cruise missiles were launched from the guided-missile destroyers USS Ross and Porter in the eastern Mediterranean. The United States has had military advisers and specialist on the ground in Syria for a while – it now has about 1,000 soldiers in Syria — advising the anti-regime rebels – especially the Syrian Kurds – but last night cruise missile attack marks the first time the United States has been involved as a combatant in the Syrian conflict.
Syria's Al-Shayrat airfield, target of U.S. missile attack // Source: theconversation.com
The United States has launched fifty-nine Tomahawk cruise missiles on a Syrian airfield from which Syrian military planes three days ago flew to carry out a sarin gas attack against Sunni civilians in the rebel-held Idlib province.
More than eighty people, including thirteen children, were killed in the attack – and in a subsequent attack by the Syrian Air Force which destroyed the hospital to which many of the victims of the gas attack were taken.
The cruise missiles were launched from the guided-missile destroyers USS Ross and Porter in the eastern Mediterranean.
The United States has had military advisers and specialist on the ground in Syria for a while – it now has about 1,000 soldiers in Syria — advising the anti-regime rebels – especially the Syrian Kurds – but last night cruise missile attack marks the first time the United States has been involved as a combatant in the Syrian conflict.
Russia described the strike as an “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law.”
Russia has also said that it would suspend an agreement with the United States to share information about Russian and U.S. flights in the skies above Syria in order to avoid incidents.
Moscow said it would call on the UN Security Council to discuss the U.S. strike.
The Independent reports that Syrian officials said seven people were killed and nine wounded in the attack.
Both Syrian and Russian sources said that no Russians were killed or injured in the attack. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, currently on a trip to Uzbekistan, said the strike was launched on an “absolutely made-up pretext,” adding: “It reminds me of the situation in 2003 when the United States and Britain, along with some of their allies, attacked Iraq.”
Lavrov added that Russia would demand an explanation from the United States why the strike was launched. “I hope this provocation will not lead to irreparable damage [to U.S.-Russian ties],” Lavrov said.
The target of the attack was an airfield at al-Shayrat, near Homs, from which the Syrian military launched its sarin gas attack on Tuesday. To facilitate the attack, some of the U.S. cruise missiles were used to destroy Syrian air defense assets – but military analysts note that the damage to the Russian-built Syrian air defenses was limited, in keeping with the limited nature of the attack.
