The United States has launched dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield in response to what it believes was Syria's use of banned chemical weapons that killed at least 100 people.
U.S. military officials told NBC News that two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea fired 59 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target — the airfield from which the United States believes the government of Syrian President Bashar al‑Assad fired the banned weapons.
U.S. officials told NBC News that people were not targeted and that aircraft and infrastructure at the site were hit, including the runway and gas fuel pumps.
US President Donald Trump has confirmed he ordered a strike on an airfield in Syria.
Trump says it is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.
Syrian television characterized the missile strike "as American aggression".
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged Russia to "consider carefully their continued support of the Assad regime."
Brief facts about the Missile Attack
.US President Donald Trump has confirmed he ordered a strike on an airfield in Syria.
.More than 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from US Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean, a Pentagon official said.
.The action was in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack earlier this week on the rebel‑held town of Khan Sheikhoun.
.The Syrian regime is widely thought to have been responsible for the attack, which killed at least 70 people ‑ many of them children. It has denied responsibility.
.Trump said yesterday the use of chemical weapons crossed a lot of lines for him.
.The US President, who is at his estate in Florida after hosting a dinner for China's President Xi Jinping, told media there was "no dispute" Syria used banned weapons.
.Trump said there could be no dispute Syria had used banned chemical weapons.
