President Donald Trump spoke to reporters in a makeshift press room in his golf resort at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, on Thursday, April 6.
“Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched,” Trump stated.
President Trump told the nation that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad had “launched a horrible chemical attack on innocent civilians,” speaking of Tuesday’s gas attack on the town of Khan Shaikhoun in Idlib Province.
The gas attack killed at least 72 civilians, including about a dozen children.
“It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the use of deadly chemical weapons,” Trump continued.
“There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and ignored the urging of the U.N. Security Council.”
“Tonight, I call on all civilized nations to join us on seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.
“We hope that so long as America stands for justice, in the end, peace and harmony will prevail,” he concluded.
Two United States warships in the Mediterranean Sea launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the airbase near Homs, Syria. Airstrikes which dropped chemical weapons on the town of Khan Shaikhoun in Idlib Province were launched from this airbase.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons freely throughout the six-year civil war which began when Assad ordered a brutal crackdown on protests against his rule.
In six years of war several hundred thousand Syrians have been killed. Millions of Syrians have been driven from their homes.
Numerous groups are fighting for control in Syria. Assad has managed to stay in power because of the political and military support of Russia and to a lesser extent, Iran.
