After Syria strikes, US and Russia spiral into confrontation

United States allies rallied around Washington after President Donald Trump launched the massive strike in retaliation for a “barbaric” chemical attack he blamed on Assad.

The U.S. Tomahawk missiles, fired from warships in the Mediterranean Sea, targeted an air base in retaliation for the attack that America believes Syrian government aircraft launched with the nerve agent sarin mixed with chlorine gas.

It was Trump’s biggest foreign policy decision since taking office in January and the kind of direct intervention in Syria’s six-year-old civil war his predecessor Barack Obama avoided.

President Trump’s plan following the attack remains to be seen, however some Republicans say he should use the opportunity to strike at President Assad’s remaining defences.

They catapulted Washington into confrontation with Russian Federation, which has advisers on the ground aiding its close ally Assad.

“Military actions, undertaken without prior authorisation of the U.N. Security Council, are not in line with worldwide legal principles in the peaceful settlement of disputes, as stipulated in the U.N. Charter”.

Video from the Russian forces posted online shows fires blazing and some damage at Shayrat military airbase in Homs province.

All US cruise missiles reached their targets at the Syrian airfield, the official said.

“Unlike the previous administration, President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action”, said Sens.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Syrian regime “bears the full responsibility for this development”, adding that any use of chemical weapons “is unacceptable, can not go unanswered, and those responsible must be held accountable”.

Russian Federation also demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and U.S. diplomats said it was to meet at 11:30am on Friday. In 2013, hetweeted about the need for President Obama to get permission from Congress, “What will we get for bombing Syria besides more debt and a possible long-term conflict?”

The hawkish senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham issued a joint statement saying the strikes sent an important message that “the United States will no longer stand idly by as [President Bashar al-Assad], aided and abetted by Putin’s Russian Federation, slaughters innocent Syrians with chemical weapons and barrel bombs”. The indiscriminate use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians is one of those times. American missions in Syria had until now been confined to attacks against the Islamic State and allied groups – carefully avoiding confronting the government of Bashar al-Assad.

The U.S. also notified its partner countries in the region prior to launching the strikes. Obama warned Assad the use of chemical or biological weapons would cross a “red line” for the U.S.in 2012.

“We assess such actions of the USA side as a gross violation of the memorandum on incident prevention and ensuring security in operations in the Syrian airspace signed in 2015”, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. The Russian government also bears considerable responsibility.

USA officials suspect that Russian Federation operated a drone and military aircraft that surveyed and struck a Syrian hospital treating victims of the chemical attack that prompted United States airstrikes on a Syrian airfield days later, two U.S. officials told BuzzFeed News on Friday.

When Democrats fought against a Trump presidency, this is the exact worst-case scenario they had in mind; they couldn’t imagine handing America’s military might to a mercurial, undisciplined television star with little knowledge of the dangers lurking in the tumultuous Middle East.

MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the US missile strikes on a Syrian air base broke global law and have seriously hurt US-Russia relations, Russian news agencies cited the Kremlin as saying on Friday.

The American leader was forced into action after the Washington anti-Russian establishment boxed him into a corner and is increasingly resembling his defeated Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, said Oleg Morozov, a former top Kremlin official who’s now a member of the upper house of parliament’s worldwide affairs committee. There was no independent confirmation of civilian casualties. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “The President needs Congressional authorization for military action as required by the Constitution”.

The president is required to confer with Congress until U.S. forces are no longer needed, according to the measure. Even Russia has said its support is not unconditional. Since the war began, nearly 5 million Syrians have fled the country and 465,000 people have been killed or are missing.

It remains to be seen whether this strike against Assad’s military represents a major shift in United States policy toward Syria.

“There can be a shared commitment to defeat ISIS and also agree that you can’t gas your own people”. Russian state television blamed rebels and did not show footage of victims.

Western and Arab allies have lined up in support of Trump’s strike.

Many were sceptical that the Trump administration had the interests of the Syrian people in mind.