Breaking: Trump orders military strike against Assad regime in Syria

US President Donald Trump ordered a US air strike against the Assad regime in Syria with 59 Tomahawk missiles in retaliation for the chemical attack on civilians earlier in the week. US warships launched cruise missiles at a Syrian government airbase where warplanes that carried out attacks were based.

"Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the air field in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched," Trump declared. He said it is in the vital national security of the US to deter the usage of deadly chemical weapons.

CNN reports that the strike was targeted on aircraft, fuel points and runway. A senior administration official said the POTUS was seriously affected by the images of dead children among the civilian casualties in the latest Syrian attack and felt compelled to act. Trump’s move was the first direct military action the US has taken against the administration of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

According to US officials, the military fired cruise missiles against the Assad-controlled airbase in response to the chemical gas attack on Tuesday. Tomahawk missiles were launched from the USS Porter, USS Ross and US Navy warships and strike several targets on the Shayrat Air Base. The move raises the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Assad's military backers.

“American aggression" had targeted a Syrian military base with "a number of missiles,” Syrian state TV confirmed. Damage estimates brought by the strikes were not immediately available.

Trump pointed that there was no argument that Syria used barred chemical weapons, disregarded the urging of the UN Security Council and violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention. The POTUS ordered the strikes one day after he blamed Assad for this week's chemical attack. On Thursday, Trump warned that "something should happen" with Assad.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley previously declared that the US diplomatic policy on Syria was no longer centred on the ouster of Assad, which had been one of the intentions of the administration of former POTUS Barack Obama. But Trump said on Wednesday that the chemical attack had caused him to change his mind about the way he should deal with Assad. He also blamed his Democratic predecessor for “weakness and irresolution” that emboldened Assad. The latest chemical attack in Syria has killed least 70 people in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun. Assad government denied allegations that it was behind the attack, Reuters noted.