The United States launched missile strikes against the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad late Thursday, a move President Donald Trump cast as necessary retaliation over a recent deadly chemical weapons attack, but one that also poses political risks for a U.S. leader who took office less than three months ago.

Trump rebuked Assad in remarks announcing the strikes, saying the Syrian strongman had “choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children" during the toxic gas attack that killed dozens earlier this week. Speaking in Florida, Trump made no mention of Iran and Russia, both countries that have backed Assad militarily.


"It was a slow and brutal death for so many,” Trump said of the chemical attack, which authorities suspect involved sarin. “Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror."

In ordering the missile strikes, Trump has now taken direct and overt military action against a foreign government after long denouncing the idea of intervention in Syria and promising he would not entangle America in more wars in the Middle East.

Even if this is the only military move Trump makes against Assad — he referred to it as a "targeted" strike — the new president has distinguished himself from his predecessor Barack Obama. The former president considered, but ultimately decided against, military action against the Assad regime over chemical weapons attacks.



On Friday, Assad's office released a statement calling the U.S. strikes "reckless," "shortsighted" and "irresponsible," according to the Associated Press.

In response, Russia denounced the missile strikes and its Foreign Ministry stated it's suspending a memorandum with U.S. where the two countries share information about sorties over Syria. The Russian military also stated it will help Syria strengthen its air defenses, according to the AP.

The United States has in recent years taken military action against the Islamic State in Syria, but this would be the first overt attack on the Syrian regime itself. The Assad government has been battling rebels trying to oust it from power for six years, a conflict that has killed an estimated half-million people.

The strikes, which involved dozens of Tomahawk missiles, came as Trump met with China’s president at the American leader's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. China has backed Russia in vetoing efforts at the United Nations to punish Assad, but it was not clear if Syria was among the topics of discussion during the Mar-a-Lago meetings.

The president was briefed Tuesday, the day of the chemical attack, on his military options, according to a senior administration official. At a National Security Council meeting on Wednesday afternoon there was “broad agreement that something had to be done and that the option selected was the right one,” the official added.

A final meeting took place around 4 p.m. Thursday, shortly after the president arrived at Mar-a-Lago. Along with the president, that meeting included National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

In making the announcement about the strikes, the president used a teleprompter and stuck to a script. He ignored shouted questions as he left the room. Trump was joined by top aides, including chief strategist Steve Bannon; chief of staff Reince Priebus; his daughter and adviser Ivanka; and Dina Powell, a top National Security Council official.

That Trump decided to take military action against Syria at all is a significant shift considering he has long warned against such moves. When, in 2013, then-President Barack Obama was considering whether to attack the Assad regime after the Syrian strongman crossed Obama’s “red line” and used chemical weapons, Trump, on Twitter, repeatedly demanded that Obama not bomb Syria.

Just last week, Trump aides suggested that the new Republican administration is fine with leaving Assad in power — breaking with the Obama administration’s stated policy that Assad had to leave his post. Since taking the presidency, Trump has also tried to ban the resettlement of Syrian refugees to the United States, saying they might be terrorists.

When news broke of the chemical weapons attack this week in Syria, Trump at first blamed Obama for being weak in dealing with Assad. But the attack that left dozens dead in the Idlib area of Syria also appeared to deeply trouble Trump, who said it crossed "many lines" for him. He eventually said he recognized the situation in Syria was now his responsibility.

The U.S. strike on Syria, which occurred at about 8:40 p.m. Eastern time, saw 59 Tomahawk missiles launched from two U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea: the USS Porter and the USS Ross, said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

The strike lasted a couple of minutes. It targeted aircraft, aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, air defense systems, ammunition storage and radars on the Shayrat Airfield in Homs, Davis said.

It occurred at 4:40 a.m. local Syrian time to try to avoid any casualties, Davis said. The goal was to render the airfield unusable and deter Assad regime from future use of chemical weapons.

The base was used to store chemical weapons prior to 2013 and was the base from which the recent chemical weapons attack was launched, Davis said. Russia was notified ahead of the strike through an already-established military-to-military deconfliction line. Precautions were taken not to hit areas of the base where Russian forces are believed to be located.

U.S. launches airstrikes in Syria

The Tomahawk missiles were fired from U.S. Navy warships in the region instead of using strike aircraft, to decrease the risk of being shot down by either Syria’s extensive air defense missiles or Russian military forces.

McMaster, the national security adviser, told reporters that Trump and his aides discussed three options for response at a meeting on Wednesday, and Trump asked the group to focus on two of them. Eventually, after the president's questions were answered, Trump and his aides settled on the approach they took.

It's hard to predict whether one set of airstrikes will be enough to keep Assad from using chemical weapons again or if it will add urgency to the struggling international peace talks for Syria. Assad may choose to lay low for a while; it’s also possible that, perhaps prodded Russia and Iran, his regime could be more willing to make concessions in peace talks with the rebels.

In a briefing with reporters, Tillerson criticized Russia’s role in enabling Assad. The secretary of state, who visits Moscow in just a few days, pointed out that as part of a 2013 deal that Russia and the Obama administration helped engineer after Obama decided to avoid military strikes, Assad was supposed to have eliminated his chemical weapons stockpile and Russia was supposed to act as a guarantor to ensure that Assad stuck to the agreement.

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“Clearly Russia has failed in its responsibility to deliver on that commitment from 2013,” Tillerson said. “Either Russia has been complicit or Russia has been simply incompetent in its ability to deliver on its end of that agreement.”

Should Trump pursue more military action in the coming months in Syria, he runs several risks. Additional military strikes raise the odds that Russians or Iranians fighting alongside Syrians could be hit, escalating tensions with those two U.S. rivals.

The president could also face problems in Congress, where Democrats as well as some Republicans already are already cautioning that he should seek lawmakers’ approval for such moves.

Still, as word spread Thursday night of the missile attacks, members of both parties expressed cautious support, with several suggesting that they hoped Assad would get the hint.

"My hope is that this action will help deter future atrocities by the Assad regime," said Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Trump full remarks on Syria air strikes

GOP Rep. Ed Royce, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, referred to the missile strikes as a “measured response” and added: “Moving ahead, the administration must work with Congress and lay out clear policy goals for Syria and the region.”

There appeared to be a recognition on both sides of the aisle that a limited strike was likely to have limited effect.

“This strike will not hasten an end to the Assad regime, but it may deter its further use of chemical weapons,” said California Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Trump also got words of support from various countries including Israel, which has been warily watching the Syrian crisis unfold on its doorstep.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had a fractious relationship with Obama but has sought to establish strong ties to Trump, said the U.S. president “sent a strong and clear message that the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.” Netanyahu added that Israel hopes the message will resonate in Iran, North Korea and beyond.

Saudi Arabia also expressed support for the strike. An official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement Thursday “praised this courageous decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to respond to the regime’s crimes against its people in light of the failure of the international community to stop the regime from brutalizing its people.”

Bryan Bender, Josh Dawsey and Cristiano Lima contributed to this report.