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posted by martyb on Friday April 07 2017, @02:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the things-that-go-fast-and-go-boom dept.

Following reports of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, President Trump authorized the launch of Tomahawk cruise missiles against a base in Syria. The Russian government was notified prior to the launch as they have resources in the area that was attacked.

According to NBC News:

The United States launched dozens of cruise missiles Thursday night 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.

Two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea fired 59 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target — Ash Sha'irat in Homs province in western Syria, the officials said. That's the airfield from which the United States believes the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fired the banned weapons.

There was no immediate word on casualties. 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.

Also at Al Jazeera:

The United States has launched 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Syrian government targets in retaliation for what the Trump administration charges was a Syrian government chemical weapons attack that killed scores of civilians, a US official says.

The targets hit from US ships in the Mediterranean Sea included the air base in the central city of Homs from which the Syrian aircraft staged Tuesday's chemical weapons attack, the US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

[...] He [Trump] called on "civilised nations" to join US in "seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria".

Syrian state TV said "American aggression targets Syrian military targets with a number of missiles".

The poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on Tuesday killed at least 86 people, including 27 children, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Turkey said samples from victims of Tuesday's attack indicate they were exposed to sarin, a highly toxic nerve agent.

The New York Times adds:

The Pentagon informed Russian military officials, through its established deconfliction channel, of the strike before the launching of the missiles, the official said, with American officials knowing when they did that that Russian authorities may well have alerted the Assad regime. "With a lot of Tomahawks flying, we didn't want to hit any Russian planes," he said.

[...] It was Mr. Trump's first order to the military for the use of force — other operations in Syria, Yemen and Iraq had been carried out under authorization delegated to his commanders — and appeared intended to send a message to North Korea, Iran and other potential adversaries that the new commander in chief was prepared to act, and sometimes on short notice.

The airstrikes were carried out less than an hour after the president concluded a dinner with Xi Jinping, the president of China, at Mar-a-Lago, sending an unmistakably aggressive signal about Mr. Trump's willingness to use the military power at his disposal.

Mr. Trump authorized the strike with no congressional approval for the use of force, an assertion of presidential authority that contrasts sharply with the protracted deliberations over the use of force by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

[...] Mr. Trump moved with remarkable speed, delivering the punishing military strike barely 72 hours after the devastating chemical attack that killed 80 people this week.

Wikipedia notes: Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war .

 
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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:06AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:06AM (#490061)

    I'm not a troll.

    Said every troll ever.
    You are right though. You do have a record on this site. and damn if you aren't a troll, you sure are troll adjacent.

    this looks staged for the media. Lots of pictures of dead babies, lots of videos of suffering civilians

    Please, tell us about the crisis actors too!

    The war was turning in his favor. I fail to see how gassing a couple hundred civilians could help his cause.

    You really don't see how being brutally violent in order to intimidate the remaining opposition into giving up sooner would not be helpful to ending an expensive war as soon as possible?
    If you aren't a troll, then you are a SMF.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   -1  
       Troll=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday April 07 2017, @04:14AM (5 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Friday April 07 2017, @04:14AM (#490068)

    I'm not a troll.
    Said every troll ever.

    I post under my name, not as an AC. Grow a pair, tell us who you are.

    You are right though. You do have a record on this site. and damn if you aren't a troll, you sure are troll adjacent.

    Howso? I have a pretty good record on this site. Nowhere near trollish, although some of my attempts at humor got modded troll.

    If you aren't a troll, then you are a SMF.

    WTF is an SMF?

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:36AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:36AM (#490078)

      > I post under my name, not as an AC. Grow a pair, tell us who you are.

      Your parents must really hate you to name you "snotnose."

      > Howso?

      You literally just said the bombing was a false flag because a brutal dictator who doesn't give flying fuck about the lives of regular people would never just slaughter for the purposes of intimidation.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @05:08AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @05:08AM (#490090)

        just said the bombing was a false flag because a brutal dictator who doesn't give flying fuck about the lives of regular people would never just slaughter for the purposes of intimidation.

        Still not sure if you mean Assad or Trump.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @08:55AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @08:55AM (#490140)

        The ex-UK ambassador to Syria Peter Ford just said it might be a false flag a few minutes ago on BBC, comparing it to another chemical incident from months ago.

    • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:48AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:48AM (#490083)

      I'm not a troll.

      Said every troll ever.

      I post under my name, not as an AC. Grow a pair, tell us who you are.

      I am snotnose, posting as AC to disguise that I am snotnose, because if I used my SoylentNews user name, everyone would know that I am actually William Witherspoon the Third, posting from High Muckymuck, Connecticut, but I just want to say, I am a troll. Not "troll adjacent", but full on, unapologetically, a troll. Full hard on troll. Really, really troll. Full metal jacket troll. That is how much of a troll I am. And, what were we talking about, before someone made it all about me and I took the bait that they trolled in front of me? Oh, dear, I am not a troll, I am a victim of trolling. I apologize to all Soylentils, present and past and future, active and inactive, and even khallow and jmorris. I am snotnose, and I approved this message.

      • (Score: 1) by charon on Friday April 07 2017, @11:52PM

        by charon (5660) on Friday April 07 2017, @11:52PM (#490612) Journal
        I thought you better than this. At least be snotty under your own 2500 year old Greek name, Αρίσταρχος.