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Syria latest: Trump orders air strikes against Assad regime – live updates

Posted on by Sig Glockincolt

22:21

Mattis is still answering detailed questions. He says he is confident a chemical weapon was used, possibly sarin.

22:16

France, the third partner in these strikes, has issued a statement. President Emmanuel Macron said the attack would be limited to Syria’s chemical weapons facilities.

“We cannot tolerate the recurring use of chemical weapons, which is an immediate danger for the Syrian people and our collective security,” a statement said.

Updated 

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22:15

Mattis: “We did everything we could to minimise any chance of civilian casualties. We are aware this is very difficult.”

 

22:14

Mattis is asked when he was confident a chemical attack happened. He says yesterday.

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22:13

Dunford is taking questions now, and says the Russians were not previously notified of the targets.

21:59

The MoD said the strike in Homs was designed to “maximise the destruction of the stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks of contamination to the surrounding area”. It said the facility is “some distance” from any known concentrations of civilian habitation.

It said initial indications showed the attack was successful.

Four RAF Tornados were part of the attack

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has given details of its involvement in tonight’s strikes.

It says four RAF Tornados flew from Cyprus and fired Storm Shadow missiles at a former missile base in Syria, near Homs, where the Syrian government was believed to have kept chemical weapon precursors.

Donald Trump has launched air strikes with UK and France that the president said were aimed at the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons facilities in response to Saturday’s poison gas attack in Damascus.

In a televised address from the White House, Trump said that the US and its allies intended to “sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of chemical weapons.”

The president said the attack involved “precision strikes on targets associated with chemical weapons facilities”.

Explosions were reported in Damascus moments after Trump finished finished his seven minute address.

Trump said that a US missile strike following an earlier poison gas attack a year ago had not stopped the Syrian regime using chemical weapons. The attacks had continued, culminating in Saturday’s attack in Douma.

“This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime,” Trump said. He noted that establishing deterrence against use of such weapons represented “a vital national security interest of the US”.

“We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of chemical weapons,” he said. Referring to the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, Trump said. “These are not actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster instead.”

In London, Theresa May issued a statement about British participation in the air strikes.

“This evening I have authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regime’s chemical weapons capability and deter their use,” the prime minister said in a written statement from Downing Street.

Like Trump a few minutes earlier, May stressed that the aims of the intervention were limited to stopping chemical weapons use, for humanitarian reasons, and to uphold the international norm outlawing chemical weapon use.

“We have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this.But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted,” May said. “Even this week the Russians vetoed a Resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack.

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