WEB DESK /

The United States has launched a missile attack against targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town.

BBC quoting a Pentagon official said that about 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean at a Syrian air base.

syria-conflictIt came after US President Donald Trump warned that “something should happen” against the Syrian leadership. Dozens of civilians died in a suspected nerve gas attack in Syria on Tuesday.

The US missiles hit the Shayrat airfield, where the US believes Tuesday’s deadly attack was launched, one US official was quoted as saying.

Earlier US President Donald Trump had hinted at possible military

 action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as his 

administration considers retaliatory options after a chemical weapons attack killed more than 80 people in rebel-held Idlib province.

Trump said, what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity and so something should happen. He was talking to reporters on Air Force One, en route to meet China’s President Xi Jinping at a Florida summit yesterday.

While Trump stopped short of calling on Assad to leave office, the comments were his strongest suggestion yet that the United States may be edging towards a stronger stance against Assad.

His stance was underscored by the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who says, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad should have no role in a future Syria.

Signalling a shift in US policy, he called for a political process that would lead to Assad leaving.

Earlier on Thursday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad should have no role in a future Syria.
His comments signalled a sudden shift in policy by the new US administration.

File photo