Syria strikes - as it happened: Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capability 'set back for years' by bombing, Pentagon says
Theresa May warns of further strikes if regime uses poison again
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Joint air strikes by the US, UK and France have set back Syria’s chemical weapons capability “for years”, the US military said.
Cruise missiles were fired at three sites in response to what Theresa May called the “despicable and barbaric” attack in Douma last week that is believed to have killed up to 75 people.
Ms May said Bashar al-Assad could face even further strikes if chemical weapons are used again - and the US warned that they were "locked and loaded" if poison used again.
US President Donald Trump declared “mission accomplished” after more than 100 missiles were collectively launched in the early hours of the morning.
During telephone conversations on Saturday afternoon, Ms May, Mr Trump and Emmanuel Macron all agreed that the military strikes in Syria "had been a success".
Downing Street published a document setting out why it believes military action against the Syrian regime was legal after Jeremy Corbyn described the action as legally questionable.
The Russian embassy in the US said it had warned that such actions would "not be left without consequences", adding that insulting President Vladimir Putin was "unacceptable and inadmissible".
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Russia and Syria claimed most of the missiles, numbering about 110, were intercepted, while the Pentagon said Syrian defences had “no effect” on the operation.
Mr Assad, backed also by Iran, said on Saturday the bombings would increase his country’s resolve to “fight and crush terrorism”.
Ms May said she had authorised British forces to conduct precision strikes against Syria to help degrade its chemical weapons capability.
“This is not about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change,” Ms May said in a statement. “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.”
RAF Tornado jets bombed a chemical weapons facility 15 miles outside Homs, the Ministry of Defence said.
Russia warned of “consequences” for the US-led military strikes, saying the use of missiles on suspected chemical weapons assets were an insult to Vladimir Putin.
“A pre-designed scenario is being implemented,” Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in a statement. “Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.”
Earlier, Russia’s military claimed to have evidence that Britain had “direct involvement” in staging the suspected chemical attack in Syria, a charge quickly condemned as “grotesque” by the UK.
Humanitarian volunteers were “seriously pressured” by the UK to speed up plans for a “provocation” in eastern Ghouta, Moscow’s defence ministry suggested.
Britain’s ambassador to the UN condemned the “blatant lie” as “the worst piece of fake news we’ve yet seen from the Russian propaganda machine”.
Later, a spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said: “These accusations from Moscow are just the latest in a number of ludicrous allegations from Russia, who have also said that no attack ever happened.
“This simply shows their desperation to pin the blame on anyone but their client: the [President Bashar] Assad regime
It comes as Russia and the United States traded fresh blows during the latest round of talks at the UN Security Council and amid warnings that the world is at risk of “full-blown military escalation”.
The State Department said the United States has proof at “a very high level of confidence” that the Syrian government of Mr Assad carried out the attack but is still working to identify the mix of chemicals used.
“Syria is responsible. We are all in agreement,” department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.
Additional reporting by agencies
Asked to address Russian claims that the majority of missiles fired by the Western powers had been intercepted, Lt Gen McKenzie said that he believed "no Syrian weapon had any effect on anything we did".
A map, produced by the US Department of Defence, of Western forces at the time of the strikes on Syria
Images released by the Pentagon showing one of the Syrian targets, Barzah research and development facility, before and after an air strike involving 57 Tomahawk missiles
Dana White, answering journalists' questions, agreed with Donald Trump and said "it was mission accomplished".
"It was a successful mission", she added, saying all targets were hit and no allied aircraft were engaged by hostile forces.
The government has published its legal reasoning for the strikes on Syria, saying international law permits it to use force to alleviate humanitarian suffering if three conditions are met.
There must be convincing evidence of "extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale, requiring immediate and urgent relief", and no other option but the use of force if lives are to be saved, the document says.
The third condition is that use of military force must be proportionate and strictly limited, the government says.
Its justification adds: "The repeated, lethal use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity.
"On the basis of what we know about the Syrian regime’s pattern of use of chemical weapons to date, it was highly likely that the regime would seek to use chemical weapons again, leading to further suffering and loss of civilian life as well as the continued displacement of the civilian population."
This is the moment that Donald Trump echoed, intentionally or otherwise, earlier today when he declared "Mission Accomplished!" in Syria.
On Twitter the US President praised a "perfectly executed strike last night" and said: "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"
Fifteen years ago his predecessor, George W Bush, stood aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a banner proclaiming Mission Accomplished in Iraq.
Major combat operations in 2003 had concluded by that time, but the war would drag on for years afterwards and its repercussions are still being felt.
(AP Photo/J Scott Applewhite)
Russia proposed a draft UN Security Council resolution on Saturday that would condemn "the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the US and its allies in violation of international law and the UN Charter".
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. It was unlikely to get the minimum nine votes needed to force a veto by the US, France or Britain, said diplomats.
A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, France, Britain or the United States to pass.
Reuters
These images shows the rubble of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, during a press tour organised by the Syrian information ministry.
This is the location at which the Pentagon said some 57 Tomahawk missiles were launched last night.
A Syrian soldier stands amid the wreckage (AP)
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that one of the buildings destroyed contained "scientific labs and a training centre".
Damaged buildings in the Barzah area (AFP/Louai Beshara/Getty)
The UN secretary general has urged all members of the Security Council to exercise restraint and avoid escalation in Syria.
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