UK joins US and France in launching missile attack on Syria

Damascus skies erupt with service to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A series of missile strikes have been launched against Syria by the US, UK and France in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma a week ago.

The strikes began at 2am BST and destroyed important infrastructure at three sites connected to the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons programme, according to the allies.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis said double the number of weapons were used in the strikes compared with the 2017 Shayrat missile strike which involved 59 US Tomahawk cruise missiles and was launched in response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.

There were no reports of any allied losses during the latest strikes and only limited resistance in the form of some Syrian surface-to-air missile activity.

Mrs May said every possible diplomatic channel had been explored before authorising the strikes

Syria’s main backer Russia, which has insisted there was no chemical weapons attack in Douma and accused the West of fabricating evidence of it, was not informed of the strikes in advance.

Announcing the operation, Prime Minister Theresa May said there was “no practicable alternative to the use of force”.

Mrs May said “every possible diplomatic channel” had been explored before authorising the strikes, adding that it was not a decision she had taken lightly.

She said: “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.

“This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.

“It is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.”

US President Donald Trump said the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons on Douma last Saturday was a “significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime”.

Giving a statement at the White House, Mr Trump said: “This evil and despicable act left mothers and fathers and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.

“The combined American, British and French response will integrate all instruments of our national power.”

Mrs May said the action would also send a “clear signal” to anyone else who believed they could use chemical weapons “with impunity”.

She said: “This is the first time as Prime Minister that I have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat - and it is not a decision I have taken lightly.”

Mrs May authorised the strikes despite demands from opposition parties that Parliament was consulted before any military action was launched.

But the Prime Minister said she had authorised the operation “because I judge this action to be in Britain’s national interest”.

“We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world,” she added.

French president Emmanuel Macron said there was no doubt the Syrian regime was responsible for the chemical attack in Douma.