The US officially launched a strike on Syria on Thursday night, just days after the Syrian regime launched a chemical weapon attack on that country’s civilians. We now have video of that strike.
The Pentagon just released video of the US attack on Syria
Trump ordered the attack after the Syrian government launched a chemical weapon attack on civilians.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesperson, gave the following statement with the video:
At the direction of the president, U.S. forces conducted a cruise missile strike against a Syrian Air Force airfield today at about 8:40 p.m. EDT (4:40 a.m., April 7, in Syria). The strike targeted Shayrat Airfield in Homs governorate, and were in response to the Syrian government’s chemical weapons attack April 4 in Khan Sheikhoun, which killed and injured hundreds of innocent Syrian people, including women and children.
The strike was conducted using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs) launched from the destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. A total of 59 TLAMs targeted aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radars. As always, the U.S. took extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties and to comply with the Law of Armed Conflict. Every precaution was taken to execute this strike with minimal risk to personnel at the airfield.
The strike was a proportional response to Assad’s heinous act. Shayrat Airfield was used to store chemical weapons and Syrian air forces. The U.S. intelligence community assesses that aircraft from Shayrat conducted the chemical weapons attack on April 4. The strike was intended to deter the regime from using chemical weapons again.
Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using the established deconfliction line. U.S. military planners took precautions to minimize risk to Russian or Syrian personnel located at the airfield.
We are assessing the results of the strike. Initial indications are that this strike has severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure and equipment at Shayrat Airfield, reducing the Syrian Government’s ability to deliver chemical weapons. The use of chemical weapons against innocent people will not be tolerated.
Until just recently, President Trump himself was opposed to attacking Syria — arguing that such a strike would require congressional approval, which Trump did not get for this attack.
As my colleague Zack Beauchamp pointed out, there’s also concerns this strike will lead to “mission creep” in which the US is pulled further and further into yet another long war in the Middle East, similar to quagmires in Iraq and other parts of the world.
Trump, however, seemed to change his mind after the chemical weapon attack. And now the US has officially attacked the Syrian government.
For more on the attack, read Vox’s explainer.
Watch: Syria’s war, explained
Correction: The article mistakenly displayed the wrong video.
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