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
The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group has said Israel's air strikes on a Syrian military base have put the country in "a direct fight with Iran".
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah described Israel's missiles, which killed some Iranian Revolutionary Guards forces, as a "historic mistake".
"They have committed a great folly and have put themselves into a direct fight with Iran," he said in a televised speech.
He also dismissed Donald Trump's threat to launch missiles at Syria as "Hollywood", adding: "All these tweets and threats... do not scare Syria, Iran, Russia nor any of the resistance movements in the region."
Britain's ambassador to the UN has described the Russian military's claims that Britain orchestrated the chemical attack in Syria as "a blatant lie".
"This is grotesque, it is a blatant lie, it is the worst piece of fake news we've yet seen from the Russian propaganda machine," Karen Pierce told reporters as she left an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
She added wanted to "state categorically" that "Britain has no involvement and would never have any involvement in the use of a chemical weapon".
Russia's UN ambassador says the United States appears to have adopted a policy to “unleash a military scenario against Syria,” saying Moscow continues to observe “dangerous” military preparations.
Vassily Nebenzia told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that “bellicose rhetoric is being ratcheted up at all levels, including at the highest levels.”
He said these developments “cannot be tolerated” and are “fraught with grave repercussions for global security,” especially with Russian troops deployed in Syria.
Mr Nebenzia said it was “unworthy” of the United States “to saber rattle.”
A Labour MP has handed a letter to Downing Street signed by politicians, trade unionists, celebrities and academics who are urging Theresa May not to take military action in Syria.
The handover of the letter, co-ordinated by the Stop the War Coalition, was marked with a protest in Whitehall.
Ms Dent Coad, MP for Kensington, said the current case for intervention was based on supposition and called for any military action to be put to a Parliamentary vote.
She added: "Syria has been bombed to bits already. Are we really going to go in and finish the job for Assad? I think that's really frightening.
"There's no precision bombing in Syria. It's so overlapping. There's no good guys and bad guys - everybody is mixed up together.
"If we bomb airbases, we could be bombing Russians. We are at the brink of something really frightening.
"We have to have proper evidence, we have to know what we're doing."
Theresa May is set to inform MPs about military action against Syria regime, and will use David Cameron's 2015 statement on a drone killing British jihadis in Syria as a template.
The Independent's political editor Joe Watts has more:
The UK Foreign Office said accusations made by Moscow that Britain directed the attack on Douma were “ludicrous”.
A spokesman said: “Russia has wielded its UNSC veto six times since February 2017 to shield the Assad regime from scrutiny for its use of chemical weapons.
“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 Assad regime.
“The chemical weapons attack in Douma last Saturday was a shocking and barbaric act that cost up to 75 lives including young children.”
Earlier in the week President Trump pulled out of the Summit of the Americas - being held in Lima, Peru, from today - to concentrate on Syria.
It seems a number of leaders have followed his lead.
The regional gathering was set to kick-off without the presence of at least four presidents besides Mr Trump — and the list of cancelled RSVPs could grow.
Cuban President Raul Castro had not officially confirmed his attendance and a high-ranking Peruvian official said it was unlikely he will arrive. Nicaragua's president was also widely expected to snub the event in solidarity with socialist Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who had his invitation withdrawn.
Meanwhile, the presidents of Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Paraguay all announced they will be staying home, saying they need to attend to pressing domestic matters and will send alternates instead.
The US has said it has a “very high level of confidence” that the government of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was behind a suspected chemical attack that left at least 50 people dead.
In another sign underscoring the Trump administration is considering a military strike in Syria, the State Department said - without providing supporting evidence - that Syria was responsible for last week’s incident in Douma.
“Syria is responsible. We are all in agreement,” department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.
She said the US still looking at exact "kind or mix" of the chemical agent used in the attack
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