Photo credit: @StratSentinel | Twitter

The US, UK and France have during an early morning raid bombed multiple targets in Syria to take out the alleged chemical weapons sites of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.

According to first reports from the Pentagon, targets in the Syrian capital Damascus and near the city of Homs were hit.

In an address to the nation, President Trump stated that "A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway."

Mr Trump blamed Russia for failing to take out the chemical weapons of the Assad regime, as they had promised to do earlier.

The US President explained that the purpose of the strikes was "to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons".

He stated that the chemical attacks "are not the actions of a man, they are the crimes of a monster instead," when referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/6VLQYAlcto">https://t.co/6VLQYAlcto</a></p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/984967457315139586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">14 April 2018</a></blockquote>

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First-hand (though unverified) video from Damascus shows the missiles coming down near Damascus, as well as some videos of the Syrian air defence systems trying to take out the alleged Tomahawks sent by the US forces are popping up.

<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Assad regime is desperately trying to stop US Missiles over Damascus — They should surrender now or face certain death. <a href="https://t.co/xaQdAN7hmv">pic.twitter.com/xaQdAN7hmv</a></p>— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) <a href="https://twitter.com/JacobAWohl/status/984964727062388737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2018</a></blockquote>

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US Secretary of Defense Mr Jim Mattis in a first reaction admitted that the number of missiles used was about double that of the attack of April 2017, when the US sent 59 Tomahawks to an airfield in Syria, more of a symbolic gesture, whilst this time the strike was supported by British planes and French ships as well.

The Pentagon did point out that special care was taken to avoid hitting ‘foreign’ (read Russian) targets in Syria.

A resident of Damascus stated: "It was mayhem above us."

"I saw more than 20 anti-air missiles launched. They'd fly really high then start weaving across like they were following their target.

"I didn't see the cruise missiles, but I saw some falling debris nearby."

Source:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/apr/14/syria-donald-trump-announcement-chemical-attack-live