President Trump Orders Missile Attack on Syrian Airfield

President Trump Orders Missile Attack on Syrian Airfield

President Donald Trump has ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airfield in response to the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack which killed over 80 civilians.

“Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” the US President, Donald Trump said in a statement from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

According to the New York Times 59 Tomahawk missiles hit the Al Shayrat airfield, destroying fighter jets, and other infrastructures.

The cruise missiles reportedly avoided Russian fighter jets and other Russian military facilities. “Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using the established deconfliction line,” Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman was quoted as saying

According to US military officials, the strike intended to send a clear message to Assad that the US would not shy away from using military force if he continues to use chemical weapons.

The strike is the first direct American military action against Syrian forces since the beginning of the country’s civil war. It is also a departure from the restrained approach of the immediate past Barack Obama administration.

Hillary Clinton, Trump’s rival in last November’s election praised the strike saying that the Obama administration should have taken out Syrian air force.

Another critic of Trump, Republican senator, John McCain, said in a statement that Trump should go further and “take Assad’s air force – which is responsible not just for the latest chemical weapons attack, but countless atrocities against the Syrian people – completely out of the fight.”