Strikes in Syria: The US, UK and France launched coordinated air strikes in Syria, hitting targets associated with the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons program.
How we got here: The US and its allies blame Syria for an apparent chemical attack on the city of Douma just over a week ago. US President Trump and UK Prime Minister May said such action could not go unchallenged.
CNN’s live coverage of reaction to the trilateral airstrikes coordinated by the US, UK and France on Syrian targets overnight has now ended.
Head here for the latest developments on this story.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White ended a press briefing on Saturday by highlighting that the US had seen a “2,000%” increase in Russian trolls in the last 24-hours. White had been providing an update of the latest developments from overnight airstrikes on Syrian targets by US, UK and French forces.
During a briefing on Saturday morning, Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White called on Russia to make sure the Syrian regime never employ the use of chemical weapons again.
“We call upon Russia to honor its commitment to ensure the Assad regime dismantles its chemical weapons program and never uses chemical weapons again.”
The Pentagon has assessed that nerve agents were present at the Barzah research center that was targeted by the US and allies overnight.
Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff, said: “We assessed that there were probably some chemical or nerve agents in that target. However we believe by the way we attacked it, the attack profile that we used” help minimized any concern of how the chemical would be dispersed in the strike.
In a briefing on Saturday morning, the Pentagon provided the following breakdown of the military weapons used to strike Syrian targets overnight.
From the Red Sea:
USS Monterey (Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser) - 30 Tomahawk missiles
USS Laboon (Arleigh Burke-class destroyer) - 7 Tomahawk missiles
From the North Arabian Gulf:
USS Higgins (Arleigh Burke-class destroyer) - 23 Tomahawk missiles
From the eastern Mediterranean:
USS John Warner (Virginia class submarine) - 6 Tomahawk missiles
A French frigate ship (could not understand name) - 3 missiles (naval version of SCALP missiles)
From the air:
2 B-1 Lancer bombers - 19 joint air to surface standoff missiles
British flew a combination of Tornado and Typhoon jets - 8 storm shadow missiles
French flew a combination of Rafales and Mirages - 9 SCALP missiles
Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff, said that the strikes on Syria overnight by US and allies were “a powerful show of allied unity.”
Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff, said that the coordinated strikes which struck targets in Syria overnight will set the country’s chemical weapons capability back “for years.”
He added that “none of our aircraft or missiles in this operation were successfully engaged” by Syrian regime.
Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White has taken the podium for a briefing on the strikes executed by the US and allies overnight.
White told reporters the strikes “successfully hit every target” and that the allies “took every measure and caution” to only hit the intended targets.
UK opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Saturday that British strikes against Syria as part of a coalition alongside France and the United States have no legal basis.
“You could only do it under the basis of self-defense – if there was a direct threat to us, and there wasn’t,” Corbyn told reporters.
The leader of UK’s Labour party called for British Prime Minister Theresa May to publish a full legal basis and justification for the airstrikes.
He also criticized the British PM for appearing to take cues from her American counterpart, US President Donald Trump, before questioning why May had not waited for approval by the UK Parliament.
“Parliament should be consulted, parliament should be allowed to take a view on this, but instead the strikes were launched last night,” said Corbyn. “She could have come to Parliament on Monday to discuss the whole situation and instead they have launched the strikes.”
The British Prime Minister is not obliged to put the matter to a vote in Parliament.
The fact-finding mission team of the the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will continue its deployment to Syria to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma last weekend, the chemical weapons watchdog said in a statement on Saturday.
Jordan has emphasized that diplomacy is the only way “to ensure Syria’s stability, territorial integrity and the security of its people” the morning after airstrikes by the US, UK and France pounded Syrian targets, according to a statement released by the spokesman for the Jordanian Government, Mohammad al-Momani on Saturday.
“The political solution preserves the unity of the Syrian people, and brings back security and stability to it,” al-Momani said.
“The continuation of violence will only bring more violence, death, destruction and more displacement that the Syrian people are only being the victims off” al-Momani added.
Days after French leader Emmanuel Macron announced in no uncertain terms that French authorities believed the Syrian regime had used chlorine as a weapon on its own citizens last weekend, the French Foreign Ministry has declassified a national intelligence report into the suspected chemical attack in Douma.
It is the first time French authorities have publicly revealed the information on which they have based its claims.
The report, which the French Foreign Ministry says was based on technical analyses of open source information and French intelligence, states that two new cases of deployment of toxic nerve agents were “spontaneously reported by civil society and local and international media” from late afternoon on April 7.
The report states that no deaths from “mechanical injuries” were visible.
“All of these symptoms are characteristic of a chemical weapons attack, particularly choking agents and organophosphorus agents or hydrocyanic acid. Furthermore, the apparent use of bronchodilators by the medical services observed in videos reinforces the hypothesis of intoxication by choking agents,” the report states.
US President Donald Trump has hailed the strikes on Syria overnight as a triumph, according to two tweets posted a few moments ago on his official Twitter account.
Trump’s second tweet praised the US military “which will soon be, after the spending of billions of fully approved dollars, the finest that our Country has ever had. There won’t be anything, or anyone, even close!”
In addition to the Pentagon briefing at the top of the hour, the United Nations Security Council will meet regarding the latest developments in Syria at 11 a.m. ET, Sweden’s deputy ambassador Carl Skau tweeted on Saturday morning.
NATO’s North Atlantic Council is also due to convene on Saturday afternoon, a NATO official told CNN earlier.
In response to the military strikes conducted by the US and allies against targets within Syria, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called on parties involved to proceed through diplomacy.
Speaking during a televised speech in Istanbul, Yildirim said:
Meanwhile, Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu reported President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Britain’s Theresa May have spoken by phone regarding the latest developments in Syria.
Citing presidential sources, Anadolu reported that Erdogan highlighted the importance of not escalating tension in Syria any further. Erdogan said a political solution is the only way to stop the cruelty of the regime by conventional and chemical weapons – that it is the only way for the Syrian people to reach a permanent peace, Anadolu said.
The Pentagon is scheduled to provide an update on the airstrikes on Syria at 9 a.m. ET.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis had announced the briefing on Friday night. According to Mattis, it will be held by Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White and Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff.
Nothing about Russia’s response to the US, UK and French airstrikes in Syria suggests that Vladimir Putin is about to change his strategy in that country.
Indeed, far from backing away from “criminal Assad” as Trump instructed, Russia may instead double down on its support of his regime and upgrade Syria’s air defenses.
Nor will Russia will follow Secretary Mattis’s instructions and engage in UN peace talks in Geneva.
Moscow’s response has not yet contained the bellicosity and snark that we have seen recently – maybe there is a modicum of relief full blown confrontation has been avoided.
But don’t expect Russia to tone down domestic rhetoric, claim a righteous victory over illegal American, UK and French aggression, and seek a punitive response elsewhere.
Putin will have read the political winds breezing through London and Paris enough to surmise he can weather this storm for now.
Jon Huntsman, the US Ambassador to Russia, says America would “welcome cooperation with a Russia that will do the right thing and join the rest of the world in condemning the Asad (sic) regime for its horrific actions and ensuring they cannot happen again.”
In a statement, Huntsman also says the US is ready to engage with Russia to further discuss Syria, but adds “we cannot and will not tolerate the Asad (sic) regime’s use of these horrific, illegal weapons.”
Two defense officials tell CNN that at least three US ships participated in the airstrikes against the chemical weapons facilities maintained by the regime of Syria.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the US and its allies of committing a “major crime” with its trilateral strikes on Syrian targets overnight, in a tweet on Saturday morning.
Separately, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Deputy Commander for Political Affairs Brigadier General Yadollah Javani condemned the US-led missile strikes, according to a report from Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency.
“The Americans imagine that they can change the conditions on the ground in Syria by such measures, but certainly this will not happen, ” he is quoted by Fars as saying. “The US should account for the consequences of the future events in the region and certainly those events will not be to their interest.”
![CORRECTION / This picture shows a general view of damaged structures at the site of a strike in Bartalla in the northern Iraqi Nineveh province on July 29, 2026. US-Saudi strikes on Iraq on July 29 killed at least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran groups, the alliance said. The United States and Saudi Arabia said they had struck Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to attacks on US forces and Saudi oil facilities. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP via Getty Images) / Attention editors: AFP covers the war in the Middle East through its extensive regional network, including bureaus in Tehran, Jerusalem and several neighboring countries.Since the start of the conflict, journalists have been working under increasingly restrictive conditions. Authorities in several countries have limited reporters' movements, photo and live video coverage from sensitive locations. Some governments and armed groups have banned images of missile or drone strikes and other security-related sites. / "The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Ziad OBEID has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: corrects byline to [Zaid AL-OBEIDI] instead of [Ziad OBEID]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require."](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/gettyimages-2287466969.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill)
