Syria strikes - as it happened: Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capability 'set back for years' by bombing, Pentagon says
Theresa May warns of further strikes if regime uses poison again
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Your support makes all the difference.Joint air strikes by the US, UK and France have set back Syria’s chemical weapons capability “for years”, the US military said.
Cruise missiles were fired at three sites in response to what Theresa May called the “despicable and barbaric” attack in Douma last week that is believed to have killed up to 75 people.
Ms May said Bashar al-Assad could face even further strikes if chemical weapons are used again - and the US warned that they were "locked and loaded" if poison used again.
US President Donald Trump declared “mission accomplished” after more than 100 missiles were collectively launched in the early hours of the morning.
During telephone conversations on Saturday afternoon, Ms May, Mr Trump and Emmanuel Macron all agreed that the military strikes in Syria "had been a success".
Downing Street published a document setting out why it believes military action against the Syrian regime was legal after Jeremy Corbyn described the action as legally questionable.
The Russian embassy in the US said it had warned that such actions would "not be left without consequences", adding that insulting President Vladimir Putin was "unacceptable and inadmissible".
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Russia and Syria claimed most of the missiles, numbering about 110, were intercepted, while the Pentagon said Syrian defences had “no effect” on the operation.
Mr Assad, backed also by Iran, said on Saturday the bombings would increase his country’s resolve to “fight and crush terrorism”.
Ms May said she had authorised British forces to conduct precision strikes against Syria to help degrade its chemical weapons capability.
“This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change,” Ms May said in a statement. “It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.”
RAF Tornado jets bombed a chemical weapons facility 15 miles outside Homs, the Ministry of Defence said.
Russia warned of “consequences” for the US-led military strikes, saying the use of missiles on suspected chemical weapons assets were an insult to Vladimir Putin.
“A pre-designed scenario is being implemented,” Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in a statement. “Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.”
Earlier, Russia’s military claimed to have evidence that Britain had “direct involvement” in staging the suspected chemical attack in Syria, a charge quickly condemned as “grotesque” by the UK.
Humanitarian volunteers were “seriously pressured” by the UK to speed up plans for a “provocation” in eastern Ghouta, Moscow’s defence ministry suggested.
Britain’s ambassador to the UN condemned the “blatant lie” as “the worst piece of fake news we’ve yet seen from the Russian propaganda machine”.
Later, a spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said: “These accusations from Moscow are just the latest in a number of ludicrous allegations from Russia, who have also said that no attack ever happened.
“This simply shows their desperation to pin the blame on anyone but their client: the [President Bashar] Assad regime
It comes as Russia and the United States traded fresh blows during the latest round of talks at the UN Security Council and amid warnings that the world is at risk of “full-blown military escalation”.
The State Department said the United States has proof at “a very high level of confidence” that the Syrian government of Mr Assad carried out the attack but is still working to identify the mix of chemicals used.
“Syria is responsible. We are all in agreement,” department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.
Additional reporting by agencies
"We must not stay silent in the face of chemical weapons use in our own time," says Ms Haley recalls previous chemical use during war
"No country can be allowed to use chemical weapons with impunity," she adds - saying all of the UN agrees on that.
"It is Russia alone that used its veto six times to prevent the condemnation of use of chemical weapons in Syria," Ms Haley says.
She then says Russia used its Security Council veto 12 times, to protect the Assad regime.
As US Defense Secretary James Mattis has also repeatedly said - Russia has failed to guarantee the removal of chemical weapons in Syria, under a 2013 agreement and in fact "it did the opposite" Ms Haley says.
The US estimates that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons 50 times in Syria - with public estimates as high as 200, Ms Haley adds.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that the United States, France and Britain were only interested in ousting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and containing Russia.
"We continue to observe dangerous military preparations for an illegal act of force against a sovereign state in what would constitute a breach of international law," he said. "We call on the leadership of these states to immediately reconsider."
"The sole thing they have an interest in is to oust the Syrian government and more broadly to contain the Russian Federation," he said
Nikki Haley did not take kindly to Mr Nebenzia's address, saying:
“I'm in awe that you can say what you say, Vassily, with a straight face. I really am.”
The Russian military has claimed an alleged chemical attack in Syria was staged and directed by Britain.
Volunteer first responders and activists said a chemical attack by the Syrian government killed more than 40 people in the town of Douma, which drew international outrage and prompted Washington and its allies to consider a military response.
Moscow warned against any strikes and threatened to retaliate.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov, released statements by medics from Douma's hospital who said a group of people toting video cameras entered the hospital, shouting that its patients had been struck with chemical weapons and causing panic.
The medics said none of the patients were hurt by chemicals.
Maj Gen Konashenkov said Britain was "directly involved in the provocation".
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says a first team of international chemical weapons investigators have arrived in Syria, with a second team to arrive on Friday or Saturday
While US President Donald Trump himself remained silent on Syria on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron - who has said France has proof that Assad's government used chemical weapons in the attack in Douma - spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Elysee palace said in a statement that Mr Macron had also expressed regret about Russia's use of its Security Council veto on the alleged chemical attack. Striking a conciliatory note, it said: "The President of the Republic called for dialogue with Russia to be maintained and stepped up to bring peace and stability back to Syria."
France's ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre, was a little more forthright in telling the Security Council that the Syrian government's decision to use chemical weapons again meant they had "reached a point of no return".
The world must provide a "robust, united and steadfast response", he said.
Since 2015 France has carried out air strikes against jihadi group Isis in Syria as part of allied forces linked to the US-led coalition, conducting about five per cent of total coalition air missions.
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