U.S., British and French forces pounded Syria with airstrikes early on Saturday in response to a deadly chemical attack that killed dozens of people last week. This was the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian President Bashar Assad since the civil war in the country began in 2011.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the military action from the White House. British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed their forces had joined in the attack.
May said she had authorized British armed forces "to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability." She described it as a "limited and targeted strike" aimed at minimizing civilian casualties.
Macron said, "We cannot tolerate the employment of chemical weapons."
More than 100 missiles were fired from ships and manned aircraft as the allies struck Syria's main chemical weapons facilities, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said.
The Syrian Armed Forces said that 110 missiles were fired on Syrian targets and that the country's defense systems "intercepted most of the missiles, but some hit targets including the Research Center in Barzeh," north of Damascus.
Mattis called the strikes a "one time shot," but Trump raised the prospect of further strikes if Assad's government again uses chemical weapons.
"We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents," the American president said in a televised address.
Mattis, referring to the U.S. strike in Syria in April 2017, said, "Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year. Together we have sent a clear message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable."
He stressed that "right now, we have no additional attacks planned."
Speaking alongside Mattis, Dunford named three targets that were struck in the military operation: The first was the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, a government body responsible for research and development of advanced weapons systems; the second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, which Dunford said the U.S. believed "was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment"; and the third target was a chemical weapons storage facility as well as a military command post.
While Dunford would not describe the military assets that were deployed, he said that "this wave of air strikes is over."
The Pentagon said Saturday that a joint operation against Syria's regime had "successfully hit every target," countering assertions from Russia that dozens of missiles were intercepted.
Pentagon spokesperson Dana White stressed, "This operation does not represent a change in U.S. policy, nor an attempt to depose the Syrian regime. The strikes were a justified, legitimate and proportionate response to the Syrian regime's continued use of chemical weapons on its own people.
"We do not seek conflict in Syria, but we cannot allow such grievous violations of international law. Our goal in Syria remains defeating ISIS, by, with and through the 70-nation coalition," she said.
Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, told reporters that the U.S.'s military operation with Britain and France was aimed "at delivering a clear and unambiguous message" to Assad's government.
Calling the Douma gas attack "inexcusable," McKenzie said the raids were "precise, overwhelming and effective," and have set Syria's chemical weapons program back "for years."
"These attacks on multiple axes were able to overwhelm the Syrian air defense systems. None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation was successfully engaged by the Syrian air defense system," he said.
Russia's news agency TASS reported that none of the missiles fired by the three western nations struck areas near its naval and air bases in Syria. Those bases come under the protection of Russian air defense units.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov issued a statement via Twitter condemning the attack.
"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris," he said.
The Syrian conflict pits a complex myriad of parties against each other with Russia and Iran giving Assad military and political help while fractured opposition forces have had varying levels of support at different times from the West, Arab states and Turkey.
The strikes risked raising tension in an already combustible region but appeared designed not to trigger a military response from Russia and Iran.
Syrian state media said the attack would fail and called it a "flagrant violation of international law."
Syria media reported Saturday that at least six loud explosions were heard in Damascus and smoke was seen rising over the city.
A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus said that the Syrian government and its allies had "absorbed" the attack, and that targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.
Allegations of Assad's use of chlorine gas have been frequent in Syria's conflict, raising questions about whether Washington had lowered the threshold for military action in Syria by now deciding to strike after a chlorine gas attack.
It is unclear who the strike would affect Trump's plan to withdraw roughly 2,000 troops who are in Syria as part of the battle against Islamic State.
The airstrikes, however, risk dragging the United States further into Syria's civil war, particularly if Russia, Iran and Assad opt to retaliate.
"America does not seek an indefinite presence in Syria, under no circumstances," Trump said in his eight-minute address.
"The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons," he said.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told a Security Council meeting Saturday that "If the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded."
The Security Council rejected Russia's demand that it denounce the strikes in Syria.
Russia's draft resolution said the Security Council "condemns the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the US and its allies in violation of international law and the U.N. Charter."
