President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Friday in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
By ROBERT BURNS, JILL COLVIN, and ZEKE MILLER, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump spoke from the White House.
Syrian television reported that Syria's air defences, which are substantial, have responded to the attack. After the attack ceased and the early morning skies went dark once more, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.
Trump said the U.S. is prepared to sustain pressure on Assad until he ends what the president called a criminal pattern of killing his own people with internationally banned chemical weapons. It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant the allied military operation would extend beyond an initial nighttime round of missile strikes.
"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children, thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not the actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead," Trump said.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said in London that the West had tried "every possible" diplomatic means to stop Assad from using chemical weapons. "But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted" by Syria and Russia, she said.
"So there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," May said. "This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change."
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."
Trump did not provide details on the joint U.S.-British-French attack, but it was expected to include barrages of cruise missiles launched from outside Syrian airspace. He described the main aim as establishing "a strong deterrent" against chemical weapons use. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any use of banned weapons.
Comments
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
Fake news. I find it highly coincidental that Syria launches this strike the day before John "The Hawk" Bolton takes his "national security" post. Russia is controlling all these awkward White House antics
"You take a mortal man, And put him in control, Watch him become a god, Watch peoples heads a 'roll A 'roll, a 'roll, Just like the pied piper, Led rats through the streets, We dance like Marionettes, Swaying to the symphony of destruction"
Megadeth - Symphony Of Destruction Lyrics
ashley14 6 years, 8 months ago
This isn't fake news. The US with the help of France and the United Kingdom, bombed Syria last night. Strategic attacks for using chemical weapons on their civilians. Happy Friday the 13th!
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
I'm giving my own definition of "fake", that is, fake as in "orchestrated". I'm fully aware that they really did bomb Syria. I'm also aware that Trump gave the Russians a heads up, remember the last heads up he gave Russia? "If you have those emails...now's a good time" I repeat..."just like the marionette..."
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 8 months ago
The war mongers are at it again.
K4C 6 years, 8 months ago
you must have missed that part where children women and men were attacked by a chemical weapons arsenal
Porcupine 6 years, 8 months ago
No, they missed nothing. The war mongers are at it again. War does not create peace, never has.. But, it does make a lot of white men very, very rich.
K4C 6 years, 8 months ago
you also missed that part where children women and men were attacked by a chemical weapons arsenal
athlete12 6 years, 8 months ago
You know they are still killing women children and men. Just not with chemical weapons now. Civil war is still going on, the bombs changed nothing.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
About 40 persons or so died in this attack, one person is too much but he's killed a reported 500,000 prior to this by other means. There's photographic evidence with Auchswitz like tortured dead bodies
sheeprunner12 6 years, 8 months ago
Why do the American SEALs not take out Assad????? ........ Then Putin will be forced to abandon Syria, if he cannot find another proxy dictator to run Syria ...... Putin and Assad need each other to survive ........ Assad represents 12% of the Syrians and Putin needs a warm weather port for his navy ........................ Knock out Assad and Putin's reason for being in Syria will be exposed.
realitycheck242 6 years, 8 months ago
American seals will not take out leaders like Assad and Kim because their countries would fall into more uncertain hands. After Kadafiy in libya fell and Saddam in Iraq was removed from power, ISiS was born in the leadership vacume in those countries. ISIS is the reason the US and its allies has troops in syria today....America being the free world leader has international responsibilities to NOT be seen as a super power who uses its power to change government leaders and dictators as she see fits....unless there is an existential threat to the home land. .However there are proxy ways to achieve those types of objectives.
Chucky 6 years, 8 months ago
reality check; either you are being sarcastic, or you are fool enough to believe the western propaganda.
U have just regurgitated the typical western news rhetoric to a "t". Sadly the real truth is quite the opposite, and you'd do well to either learn it, or at least ensure your comments include a little more obvious sarcasm, lest you have others believing what you write.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 8 months ago
Don't know what world you have been living in ...... USA has been meddling in governments from the days of Teddy Roosevelt in Cuba and Puerto Rico ...... to Israel ....... to Vietnam ...... Who orchestrated the election of Hubert Ingraham?????
So, if the USA would not remove Assad, that is a political decision beyond the SEALs .... and it has little to do with the Syrian civil war.
realitycheck242 6 years, 8 months ago
@Sheeprunner12 .....i agree with your statement, thats why i said there are proxy ways to achieve those types of objectives.....eg the use and supporting of rebel forces and opposition froces in various countries. Assad is a dictator who should be removed but America does not want to be in the that country for decades like how they are stuck in Afganistan, The middle east has cost America two trillion dollars over the last decade. Trumps prioties these days is to build america infastructure because china is leaving the USA behind when is comes to Infastructure
realitycheck242 6 years, 8 months ago
This Attack shows the difference between Trump and Obama.....Obama did not enforce his red lines. Trump knows his military capabilities and he aint afraid to use it....Despite his political problems at home in the USA, The world has come to realize that the chief in the white house is a cowboy who dont take no mess.. Assad will have his day soon in the world court for the war crimes he continues to commit.....But most importantly this attack sends a clear message to North Korea, and Iran...When Trump meets Kim maybe next month.., ,the North Korean leader will cower in fear when he realizes he is in the presence of a no no-nonsence president who heads a military that is ready to deny NK its objectives of a working delivery vehicle that can reach the united states. Trumps style may be unorthodox using twitter and all but he gets results.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 8 months ago
Meanwhile Trump is in bed with the enemy ....... Go figger
K4C 6 years, 8 months ago
you appear to be suffering from CNNlitis
Chucky 6 years, 8 months ago
Again you spew garbage. Do have any idea how many USA presidents have been called before the international criminal courts? How about all of them in the last 65 years. Talk about criminals. Don't worry, soon the usa will be done, they've been on the decline for so long now, they've passed the point of no return. Good riddance to them!
Dawes 6 years, 8 months ago
And who comes after? And will they want to rule with an iron fist or what we have now. As a Bahamian what we have now is not that bad, would rather this then the unknown.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
Oh please I don't believe it's nice to have bombs dropping even 200 miles from your location, but this was not a "tough guy" showing and the Syrians know it. They're dancing in the streets. He went to great pains to give them three days notice and then they bombed the evidence site... I mean...things couldn't have gone better if Putin had planned it all himself....waaaiiit a minute...
DDK 6 years, 8 months ago
You think?? So many brain washed western nations (at least their civilians). It's all just war mongering and money for the coffers of the corporate elite. Almost every country has a "dictator" to be removed even if the dictator is elected by the people of the country currently being bullied. That list is expanding as the appetite of the military industrial complex grows totally out of control.
Proguing 6 years, 8 months ago
I find it incredible that after the Iraq weapons of mass destruction hoax, people still blindly believe the USA propaganda for war. Assad had no motive to use chemical weapons, having defeated almost all of ISIS and other terrorist groups. The real question is who benefits from these bombings? Think about that for a moment.
DDK 6 years, 8 months ago
Thank you! Not to mention the death, pain and suffering that would have occurred had there actually been chemical weapons to blow into the air. Makes it a bit more difficult for the UN Chemical Watch Dogs to make an after the fact determination. Bonus - give The Pres a bit of a break from Stormy weather lol!
ashley14 6 years, 8 months ago
I sleep better at night with Trump in the White House. He's not going to take any crap. You should too, some of your Islands are very close to our border. If government was killing your civilians he would be there for you as well.
realitycheck242 6 years, 8 months ago
@Ashley14 .....exactly , Democracy is not perfect ...but its the best political system the world has. Thats why western countries are know as the free world. The average Bahamain can only imagine the horror the people syria and countries like North Korea go through daily. We have never lived through war I support trumps actions in syria 100%. because there will be escalated consequences every time chemical weapons are used in the future..
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
I've heard commentary from Syrians, not Bahamians, asking exactly what did that bomb strike do? So you tell Assad, if you kill people with poison gas we'll bomb you again, well he'll just kill people by other means, what then? he's killed up to 500,000 so far they say. So is the strategy to fight for the Syrian people...or to take the coverage off the Porn Star and Michael Cohen?
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
"I sleep better at night with Trump in the White House."
Well that's great!! Because the Generals are having nightmares.
Its pretty ironic that it's mostly the poor Midwest folks who give Trunp diehard support, but it's their sons and daughters who are gonna die fighting his ill thought out, have to take their mind off my sexual exploits, Cohen secret trip in Russia, Manafort and Prince in the Seychelles and Jared using the Whitehorse for family business.
He said he'd drain the swamp but it looks like he's bought the Swamp Creature in to rule the roost. One after the next, they're forced to resign for their personal deal making, correction, forced to resign because someone found out and it didn't look good on tv. All about the ratings. it's unbelievable. The people who point out that it's getting pretty swampy in here are being moved and fired.
It's truly ironic, your sons are fighting a WAR to protect his millions. Literally
realitycheck242 6 years, 8 months ago
@Thisisours....i can see you are a far left supporter.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
I don't consider myself far anything. I like "fair". But that's neither here nor there, if you call it "far left", fine. It doesn't change the fact that Jared got was it half a billion dollars in loans after a meeting with two banks reps at the whitehouse? That his sister was hawking Us Citizenship in exchange for investment in the family business, his "sister", how can she offer anyone US citizenship??? Manafort in under indictment for his funny dealings in Turkey. That Pruit was looking to a coin minted with his name on it (a coin with his name??) that Ikohn was forced to resign after some shady stock dealings. That Mueller has evidence Cohen did go on a secret trip to Russia even though he posted photos of his passport as proof that he hadn't been there. There's so much shady scandal ridden issues in a little over one year for this admin. Far left far right, I don't think it matters...
proudloudandfnm 6 years, 8 months ago
More like bombed Syria to deflect from all the scandals happening right now.
Trump is not the problem. Trumpies are.
proudloudandfnm 6 years, 8 months ago
Anyone who still supports this lying, moronic scumbag please message me. I have a toll bridge in NY to sell you, dead cheap. Start making money today!!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 8 months ago
Wonder what will happen to Trump and his crazies after the Democrats win back Congress in the November 2018 mid-term elections??????? ............ Too many scandals, drama and piss-poor decision-making ......... The USA is really the laughing-stock of the world right now.
But China, N.Korea, Iran and Russia should not feel comfortable between now and then.
DDK 6 years, 8 months ago
Trump & Military Industrial Complex just one want one more regime change and constant war to feed their greed. They only coerced The British Bull Dog and The French Poodle to team up this time!
John 6 years, 8 months ago
O ye hypocrites...how can you see what is happening in Syria and cannot see what is happening in The Bahamas and The Caribbean? Do you think they would be wanting an oil refinery and oil storage facility if there was no oil? Every country that has wealth and natural is under attack. Check out the poverty and violence and unrest in Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. Billions of dollars more oil and natural gas has been discovered in Guyana... you think the people of Guyana will benefit? A minister of national security of one of the world powers said, ‘It is easier to kill a million people than to control a million people.’ Not fake news, false flags!
proudloudandfnm 6 years, 8 months ago
There will not be a new oil terminal in GB. Looks like you gettin swung too John. Lol...
Oban is about as real as peter cotton tail....
John 6 years, 8 months ago
Poison gas, poison water, same difference
JohnDoes 6 years, 8 months ago
Why yall crazy people dont leave this alone. Our tiny islands aint got nothing to do with whats going on. I dont know why everyone is making this a Trump issue, blaming Trump. The action was passed by the Allies, it was a joint intitiative. Assad is clearly breaking the Geneva Convention law, that was passed after WW1 when they realized the enormity of the collateral damage that the use Chemical Weapons pose. These are the same allies that prevented the Nazis from taking over the world, along with help from Russia. Sadly Russia is on the wrong side of the playing field, but that is probably because of its geographical location & similar political views (its much cheaper for Russia to side with those closer countries to avoid conflicts especially as it relates to trade) They are are major super power as well, maybe not as agile as the U.S and its allies, but they can handle their own. All in all, The Allies are right in every aspect of this. Assad is a dictator and if the U.S and its allies were not around, everyone else would be dictators and major crimes against humanity would exist with no checks & balances in place.
John 6 years, 8 months ago
The war with Syria and the other six Muslim nations started 6 presidents ago. Can you count backwards that far? Decades before Assad even thought of becoming president.
John 6 years, 8 months ago
Now Sean Hennity has been implicated. Will Trump survive this round. One thing is for sure: the more snares and entanglements he manages to escape from, the more arrogant and ruthless he seems to become. The power is getting to his head. And to think he wants a second time. For him it is not impossible.
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