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
The US says they had been made aware of Syrian missile defence activity. Syrian state TV has claimed that 13 missiles were shot down, the US says it cannot confirm any such information at this time.
The Syrian presidency tweets "Good souls will not be humiliated" after airstrikes by US, UK, France.
The strikes by the three are believed to be over.
The US said they had told the Russians that jets were in Syrian airspace, as per the deconfliction protocol.
But they did not talk about targets, and as they relay such information daily, the Russians did not likely find anything out of the ordinary in that.
Defence Secretary James Mattis says the US has no reports of suffering any losses during the initial airstrikes on Syria Friday.
Mr Mattis says "right now this is a one-time shot" but is not ruling out further attacks. President Donald Trump had said earlier that the campaign against the regime of Bashar Assad could be "sustained."
The defense secretary says the air strikes were launched against several sites that he says helped provide Assad's ability to create chemical weapons. Mr Mattis says the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people last week.
Mr Mattis says the Pentagon will provide more information on the attack on Saturday.
At the Pentagon briefing, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford said the targets included a Syrian research facility and a chemical weapons storage facility.
A US official told Reuters targets were being carefully selected with the aim of damaging Assad's military's ability to conduct further gas attacks, while avoiding the risk of spreading poisonous fallout in civilian areas.
The US-led attack on Syria will be seen as limited if it is now over and there is no second round of strikes, a senior official in the regional alliance that has supported President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian war has said.
"If it is finished, and there is no second round, it will be considered limited," the official told Reuters.
Both Mr Mattis and General Dunford were at pains to point out that the latest action is larger than last year - and it does.
The big thing for the US now is how seriously Russia and Syria take what has been done.
Mr Trump will not want to be in the same position as last April, where the response of firing missiles was initially praised before making little difference in the long run.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that a target of the strike was the Syrian government's "clandestine chemical arsenal."
Mr 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.
The decision to strike, after days of deliberations, marked Mr Trump's second order to attack Syria. He authorised a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit a single Syrian airfield in April 2017 in retaliation for Assad's use of sarin gas against civilians.
Mr Mattis said the strike was "harder" on the Syrian regime than the 2017 strike and targeted "Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure." He described it as a "a one-time shot," adding, "I believe it has sent a very strong message."
Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, has responded to the air strikes in Damascus and Homs. He says Moscows warnings have been left unheard and that Russia is being threatened. “We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences,” he says.
He says “insulting the president of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible” and that the US, as a holder of chemical weapons, has no moral right to blame other countries.
John McCain, the US Senate Armed Services Committee chair:
“I applaud the President for taking military action against the Assad regime for its latest use of chemical weapons, and for signalling his resolve to do so again if these heinous attacks continue”
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