President Donald Trump spoke Friday night announcing precision strikes targeting Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities. It will be a combined operation with France and the United Kingdom, Trump said.
Trump said it was a response to a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime outside Damascus, which left 40 dead and hundreds injured.
“This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use,” Trump said in his last-minute address, which was televised Friday. “These are not the actions of a man. They are the crimes of a monster instead.”
Trump also said he had a message to Iran and Russia.
“What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep,” Trump said. “Assad’s recent attack and today’s response are the direct result of Russia’s failure” to prevent Syria from using chemical weapons.
Trump said he does not seek indefinite engagement in Syria.