The United States launched a salvo of 59 cruise missiles on Shayrat airfield and nearby military infrastructure controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in response to a chemical attack that killed at least 80 people in the northwestern part of the country on Monday.
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US launches more than 50 cruise missiles at Assad regime airfields over Syrian chemical attack
Fifty Tomahawk missiles were launched from two Navy warships stationed in the Mediterranean.
The U.S. military, together with our allies and partners, has the capability to achieve this objective quickly, precisely, decisively, and in ways that control escalation.
The Tomahawk missiles, launched from the USS Ross and the USS Porter at dawn local time on Friday, represent the first US strikes on the Assad regime, according to a statement from the Pentagon.
US President Donald Trump, initially resistant to the idea of becoming involved in Syria, said it was in the vital national security interest of the US to prevent the use of chemical weapons.
"No child of god should suffer such horror," Trump said in an address to reporters after the cruise missile strikes. “It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons."
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The governor of Homs, a city roughly 160 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, said at least five people were killed and seven were wounded in the US strikes, Reuters reported.
Autopsies have confirmed that the chemical attack earlier this week involved sarin gas, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said there can be "no doubt" that Assad's forces carried out the attack.
Both Syrian and Russian forces have denied responsibility for the attack, with Russian forces claiming a conventional airstrike hit a cache of chemical weapons owned by rebels in Syria. International experts have dismissed this as an "infantile argument."
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said "there were measures put in place to avoid hitting what we believe is a storage of sarin gas there," CNN's Josh Rogin reports.
Though the US strike targeted infrastructure and runways, a large volley of cruise missiles carries the risk of collateral damage to troops stationed nearby. Initial reports from Syrian military sources say the strikes "led to losses," as Reuters notes.
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Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC that the airfield had been vetted by US forces to ensure civilians weren't endangered and Russians in the area were aware. The Trump administration said key US allies had prior warning to the strikes.
Read Trump's full remarks below:
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