U.S., French and British forces have struck targets in Syria as punishment for Syrian leader Bashar Assad using chemical weapons against his own people.
President Donald J. Trump announced the combined force launched precision strikes against the chemical weapons capabilities.
The strike against the capabilities is designed to stop Assad from using the banned weapons.
This is the second time the United States struck Assad's chemical network. In April 2017, Trump ordered an attack against the Shayrat air base after Syrian aircraft at the base dropped bombs containing the nerve agent sarin. Some 58 missiles hit the aircraft and chemical weapons facilities at the base.
But the Syrian dictator did not learn the lesson, and the regime again launched poison gas against its own people April 7.
‘Evil and Despicable Act'
“This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime,” Trump said during an announcement from the White House tonight. “The evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air. These are not actions of a man; they are crimes of a monster instead.”
Chemical weapons have been banned since their widespread use during World War I. “The purpose of our action tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons,” the president said….
