Updated: 6pm, 14th April, 2018
The US, UK and France have launched more than 100 missiles into Syria, targeting chemical weapons production and research sites after the prohibited weapons were reportedly used in an attack in the Syrian town of Douma last weekend, killing dozens.
US President Donald Trump announced the “precision strikes” on Friday night.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis said the attack “sent a clear message” to Syrian President Bashir al-Assad and his “murderous lieutenants” that they should not launch another attack using chemical weapons.
“I want to emphasise that these strikes are directed at the Syrian regime,” he said, adding that they had gone to “great lengths” to avoid civilian and foreign casualties.
“But it is a time for all civilised nations to urgently unite in ending the Syrian civil war by supporting the United Nations-backed Geneva peace process,” he added.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the Syrian regime had a history of using chemical weapons against its own people and that a significant body of information including intelligence indicated the Syrian regime was responsible for the Douma attack.
“This persistent pattern of behaviour must be stopped, not just to protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons but also because we cannot allow the erosion of the international norm that prevents the use of these weapons.”
Ms May said the strikes were not about intervening in the Syrian civil war or about regime change there but were a “limited and targeted strike”.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the response of the US and its allies as “calibrated, proportionate and targeted”.