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Trump Announces 'Precision' Strike On Syria's Chemical Weapons Capabilities

(CBS NEWS) - Friday night, President Trump announced the U.S. launched "precision" military strikes against targets inside Syria linked to recent chemical attacks. The strike is the culmination of days of threats by President Trump against the Syrian government over a suspected chemical attack against civilians in Douma on the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday.

"A short time ago, I ordered the U.S. Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad," the president said from the White House. "A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now under way."

CBS News foreign correspondent Seth Doane, the only American network correspondent in Damascus, reported that as President Trump was speaking around 4 a.m. local time, they could hear "rumblings" that appeared to be the airstrikes. Doane reported there is a "real sense of defiance" in Syria, even ahead of the airstrikes.

Syria US
Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syria's capital has been rocked by loud explosions that lit up the sky with heavy smoke as U.S. President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for the country's alleged use of chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Stirke on Syria - 2018

The airstrikes are the second time Mr. Trump has retaliated against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad for using chemical weapons against civilians. In April 2017, Mr. Trump ordered a strike of nearly 60 Tomahawk missiles that destroyed a Syrian air base days after Assad used sarin gas in an attack that killed dozens of civilians, many of them children.

Mr. Trump met with his national security team at the White House Wednesday afternoon to discuss options for striking the Syrian regime. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement following the meeting that no decision had been made about a response. In the days since the suspected attack, the president has repeatedly warned that a military strike was on the table.

Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday during a congressional hearing that an attack was "not yet in the offing."

Friday's strikes come in response to the suspected poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the capital of Damascus that left dozens dead, according to opposition groups. The alleged attack has been denied by Syria and Russia, Assad's closest ally.

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