Furious Vladimir Putin has called the US airstrikes on Syria an 'illegal act of aggression' and suspended a deal to avoid mid-air clashes with American fighter jets over the war-torn country.

The Russian President warned of grave damage to relations between Washington and Moscow which are already 'in tatters'.

The United States fired dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase from which it said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched this week.

Syrian Army officials described the attack as an act of 'blatant aggression', saying it had made the US 'a partner' of ISIS, the ex-Nusra Front and other 'terrorist organisations'.

The US military fired 59 tomahawk missiles at the Assad-controlled al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs at 1.40am today (8.40pm EDT), killing at least six and injuring many more.

Moscow received signals the US was launching an airstrike about 30 minutes in advance, according to a Russian ambassador to the UN but the Trump administration did not seek the Kremlin's approval.

It is not known it the Russians then alerted the Syrians about the incoming strikes.











http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4388834/America-launches-airstrikes-Syria.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4389332/Russia-calls-airstrikes-Syria-act-aggression.html

No matter what putin does... He can never be as powerful as the man who occupies the white house;at least not until his country Russia emerges as the new world power after a possible third world war... If and only if...

CC: paschal47, Sirwere.

Two U.S. warships, USS Ross and USS Porter fired 59 cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean Sea at the Syrian airbase controlled by forces of President Bashar al-Assad in response to a poison gas attack in a rebel-held area on Tuesday, US officials said.

Facing his biggest foreign policy crisis since his January 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump took the toughest direct US action yet in Syria's six-year-old civil war, raising the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Assad's two main military backers.

The destroyers' locations are always kept secret but are believed to have been off the coast of Turkey or Cyprus, around 150 to 200 miles away from al-Shayrat - and fired 30 minutes after they warned the Russians to keep away from the area.

The Tomahawk is the US military's most advanced missile carrying an 1,000lb bomb and can carry an nuclear warhead - and their laser-guided accuracy was the best way to avoid hitting any Russians.

About 60 of theses US Tomahawk missiles launched early Friday hit the Shayrat air base, southeast of the city of Homs, a small installation with two runways.

Aerial pictures show the airbase targeted in the strikes. Pentagon officials said that the airfield was being used to store chemical weapons and was a base for Syrian air forces.

TIMELINE OF THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR AND US RESPONSE





Chemical weapons have killed hundreds of people since the start of the conflict, with the U.N. blaming three attacks on the Syrian government and a fourth on the Islamic State group.

One of the worst yet came Tuesday in rebel-held northern Idlib and killed dozens, including women and children.

That attack prompted President Donald Trump, on day 77 of his presidency, to dramatically shift U.S. policy, with the first direct U.S. attack on the Syrian government.

Trump blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad for the attack and called on the international community to join him in trying to end the bloodshed.






A timeline of events in Syria leading up to Tuesday's attack:




March 2011: Protests erupt in the city of Daraa over security forces' detention of a group of boys accused of painting anti-government graffiti on the walls of their school.

On March 15, a protest is held in Damascus' Old City. On March 18, security forces open fire on a protest in Daraa, killing four people in what activists regard as the first deaths of the uprising.

Demonstrations spread, as does the crackdown by President Bashar Assad's forces.



April 2011: Security forces raid a sit-in in Syria's third-largest city, Homs, where thousands of people tried to create the mood of Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of protests against Egypt's autocrat Hosni Mubarak.



Aug. 18, 2011: President Barack Obama calls on Assad to resign and orders Syrian government assets frozen.



Summer 2012: Fighting spreads to Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its former commercial capital.



August 20, 2012: Obama says the use of chemical weapons would be a 'red line' that would change his calculus on intervening in the civil war and have 'enormous consequences.'



March 19, 2013: The Syrian government and opposition trade accusations over a gas attack that killed some 26 people, including more than a dozen government soldiers, in the town of Khan al-Assal in northern Syria. A U.N. investigation later finds that sarin nerve gas was used, but does not identify a culprit.



August 21, 2013: Hundreds of people suffocate in rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital, with many suffering from convulsions, pinpoint pupils, and foaming at the mouth. U.N. investigators visit the sites and determine that ground-to-ground missiles loaded with sarin were fired on civilian areas while residents slept. The U.S. and others blame the Syrian government, the only party to the conflict known to have sarin gas.



Aug. 31, 2013: Obama says he will go to Congress for authorization to carry out punitive strikes against the Syrian government, but appears to lack the necessary support in the legislature.



Sept. 27, 2013: The U.N. Security Council orders Syria to account for and destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, following a surprise agreement between Washington and Moscow, averting U.S. strikes. The Security Council threatens to authorize the use of force in the event of non-compliance.



Oct. 14, 2013: Syria becomes a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, prohibiting it from producing, stockpiling or using chemical weapons.



June 23, 2014: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says it has removed the last of the Syrian government's chemical weapons. Syrian opposition officials maintain that the government's stocks were not fully accounted for, and that it retained supplies.



Sept. 23, 2014: The U.S. launches airstrikes on Islamic State group targets in Syria.



Aug. 7, 2015: The U.N. Security Council authorizes the OPCW and U.N. investigators to probe reports of chemical weapons use in Syria, as reports circulate of repeated chlorine gas attacks by government forces against civilians in opposition-held areas. Chlorine gas, though not as toxic as nerve agents, can be classified as a chemical weapon depending on its use.



Aug. 24, 2016: The joint OPCW-U.N. panel determines the Syrian government twice used helicopters to deploy chlorine gas against its opponents, in civilian areas in the northern Idlib province.

A later report holds the government responsible for a third attack.

The attacks occurred in 2014 and 2015.

The panel also finds that the Islamic State group used mustard gas.



Feb. 28, 2017: Russia, a stalwart ally of the Syrian government, and China veto a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing sanctions against the Syrian government for chemical weapons use.



April 4, 2017: At least 58 people are killed in what doctors say could be a nerve gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the rebel-held Idlib province. Victims show signs of suffocation, convulsions, foaming at the mouth and pupil constriction.

Witnesses say the attack was carried out by either Russian or Syrian Sukhoi jets. Moscow and Damascus deny responsibility.


April 4, 2017: President Donald Trump issues a statement saying that the 'heinous' actions of Assad's government are the direct result of Obama administration's 'weakness and irresolution.'


April 5, 2017: Trump says Assad's government has 'crossed a lot of lines' with the suspected chemical attack in Syria.


April 6, 2017: The U.S. fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria Thursday night in retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians, U.S. officials said.

It was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Trump's most dramatic military order since becoming president. Trump said strike on Syria in the 'vital national security interest' of the United States.

I don't think Assad will be stupid enough to gas the rebels at this crucial stage in his battle for Syria. His Airstrike must have hit chemical weapon factory/stockpile of the terrorists.

With Doomsday Weapons a.k.a Weapon of Mass Destruction WMD in the hands of many,i think Albert Einstein might be right.
He said "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
WW3 will surely lead to massive destruction on both sides with everything we have built over the centuries destroyed and civilization gone.

Xbee007:
I don't think Assad will be stupid enough to gas the rebels at this crucial stage in his battle for Syria. His Airstrike must have hit chemical weapon factory/stockpile of the terrorists.

Exactly what happened. But did you expect the MSM to say that? They will surely finetune it and blame Assad or Putin in order to strike them harder, which eventually happened. Only dumbs don't know what's happening in Syria.

In summary, USA bombs Syria to warn Syria not to bomb Syria. How interesting!

oseiwe:
In summary, USA bombs Syria to warn Syria not to bomb Syria. How interesting!

Smart Guy..

I await the face off between Putin and my dear Trump

oseiwe:
In summary, USA bombs Syria to warn Syria not to bomb Syria. How interesting!

Lol. Brilliant comment. To protect Europe from terrorist, stop backing them in Syria. Assad said this just before the strike. Whos now the terrorist?

In other news, USA launched 59 airstrikes but only 23 hit the airbase.

oseiwe:
In summary, USA bombs Syria to warn Syria not to bomb Syria. How interesting!

Lol.

I have said it severally, war is never a good thing!

See now!

The Americans are killing Syrians!
The Russians​ are killing Syrians!
The Turkish government is killing Syrians!
The Iranians​ are killing Syrians!
The ISIS is killing Syrians!
The rebels are killing Syrians!
The Syrian government is killing it's own people... Syrians!

It's now a competition on "who can kill more Syrians"!

The loser in this evil game called war... Syrians!

... Nigerians should take note!

ichommy:


CC: paschal47, Sirwere.

I don't support this



But lately, Trump have been behaving stupid

when will this war end oh God

Trump got iron balls.
I don't think Putin and Trump will have a fall out.
Its all a smoke screen to divert attention and sway the public from the allegations that Trump had a deal with Russia/Putin before the US elections.
Trump is a smart guy.

1.) Assad has no reason to use chemical weapons that he
publicly had ALL destroyed years ago. That would be stupid! Bombing civilians of ZERO military value is gross stupidity!

How dumb do they think we are?

2.) The rebels have every incentive to use chemical weapons & blame it on the Syrian Government because they ARE LOSING THE WAR. And they want to draw Amerika & her allies into the fight (so they can win).

The chemical attack on idlib was staged by the White Helmets - The same terrorist group that was given an Oscar award by Hollywood for a job well done.


https://clarityofsignal.com/2017/02/27/massive-white-helmets-photo-cache-proves-hollywood-gave-oscar-to-terrorist-group/

This map, created by MailOnline, shows who supports who in the battle for Syria with the UK, France, Germany and the US belonging on the 'Anti Assad' side.

Putin tells the world, 'Attacking Syria again? You'll need to get through me'



Vladimir Putin has today diverted a warship to protect the Syrian coast and vowed to bolster Bashar al-Assad's missile defences against further US strikes as fears grew the crisis could topple into war between Russia and the West.



Read more:

https://www.nairaland.com/3729111/putin-diverted-warship-protect-syrian#55359333

Explorers:
Putin tells the world, 'Attacking Syria again? You'll need to get through me'



Vladimir Putin has today diverted a warship to protect the Syrian coast and vowed to bolster Bashar al-Assad's missile defences against further US strikes as fears grew the crisis could topple into war between Russia and the West.



Read more:

https://www.nairaland.com/3729111/putin-diverted-warship-protect-syrian#55359333

Has it been confirmed that the Syrian Government ordered the use of chemical weapons in its own citizens? Trump is too irrational for a President not to talk of being the POTUS. He might just lead the world faster to war.

since the purposed chemical weapon was allegedly used by the white helmets to bring the west into the war..I think POTUS is wrong to have ordered the airstrikes against Syria at this critical moment.. the war is now in 3 fronts.. Russia/Syria, ISIS/rebels and the USA/UK et al..
if this escalate into further actions..its gonna raised many allies for the three parties...which I'm sure will bring massive casualties..let America be neutral in this fight...the Islamic world will turn the tide against them and it'll make American citizens soft targets for terrorist attack...

emmanuelpopson:
since the purposed chemical weapon was allegedly used by the white helmets to bring the west into the war..I think POTUS is wrong to have ordered the airstrikes against Syria at this critical moment.. the war is now in 3 fronts.. Russia/Syria, ISIS/rebels and the USA/UK et al..
if this escalate into further actions..its gonna raised many allies for the three parties...which I'm sure will bring massive casualties..let America be neutral in this fight...the Islamic world will turn the tide against them and it'll make American citizens soft targets for terrorist attack...

We just pray this won't get out of hand.

Bellfun:
I have said it severally, war is never a good thing!

See now!

The Americans are killing Syrians!
The Russians​ are killing Syrians!
The Turkish government is killing Syrians!
The Iranians​ are killing Syrians!
The ISIS is killing Syrians!
The rebels are killing Syrians!
The Syrian government is killing it's own people... Syrians!

It's now a competition on "who can kill more Syrians"!

The loser in this evil game called war... Syrians!

... Nigerians should take note!

Funny thing is the God they so righteously serve hasn't come down from above to help them.

following

joseph1832:
Funny thing is the God they so righteously serve hasn't come down from above to help them.

What does God have to do with megalomaniac americans,over-ambitious russians and rampaging syrians?.

EVarn:
What does God have to do with megalomaniac americans,over-ambitious russians and rampaging syrians?.

Everything! He can wipe them out with just a snap of His fingers.

joseph1832:
Everything! He can wipe them out with just a snap of His fingers.

To what end?

EVarn:
To what end?

The same end he murdered all the first born son of Egyptians.

joseph1832:
The same end he murdered all the first born son of Egyptians.

and you think you are funny./

joseph1832:
The same end he murdered all the first born son of Egyptians.

Ah....I see....