President Donald Trump tonight announced military strikes in Syria in response to the government’s alleged use of chemical weapons against Douma. The U.S. is working in coordination with France and the United Kingdom.
Referencing the U.S. airstrike against Syria a year ago under a similar trigger, Trump said of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, “These are not the actions of a man. These are the crimes of a monster.”
Trump said that the purpose of the strike was to provide a strong deterrent to try to stop future use of chemical weapons and made it clear that this could be a sustained set of strikes and military actions, not just another barrage of missiles as we saw last year.
Trump also called out Russia and Iran for propping up Assad, asking “What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women, and children?”
Media outlets on the ground are reporting that they can hear military operations underway in Syria, where it’s very early Saturday morning.
More coverage here. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) earlier today tweeted that 84 lawmakers sent the president a letter warning him that he couldn’t engage in military strikes against Syria without congressional authorization:
Today, @RepZoeLofgren @RepBarbaraLee @RepThomasMassie and I sent a bipartisan letter to @POTUS—cosigned by 84 of our colleagues—demanding that the president not commence offensive military action against Syria without congressional approval, as the Constitution requires. pic.twitter.com/53awn6Fizh
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) April 14, 2018
There is a military briefing on what’s actually happening in Syria still to to come.
from Hit & Run https://ift.tt/2JI3vXW
via IFTTT