Syrian state TV and witnesses said late Sunday that airstrikes had hit a military airport near the city of Homs shortly after a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 40 people in a suburb of the capital city, Damascus, over the weekend.
It was not immediately clear who launched the airstrikes. U.S. officials denied it had taken military action against Syria.
Just in from the Pentagon: “At this time, the Department of Defense is not conducting air strikes in Syria.” pic.twitter.com/pet5TR6ec8
— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) April 9, 2018
Saturday’s chemical attack unfolded place in a rebel-held town near Damascus amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse of a truce. Syrian activists, rescuers and medics said a poison gas attack in Douma killed at least 40 people, with families found suffocated in their houses and shelters. The reports could not immediately be independently verified.
Images released by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, a volunteer organization, showed children lying on the ground motionless and foaming at the mouth. The Assad government, in a statement posted on the state-run news agency SANA, denied responsibility.
On Sunday morning, Trump condemned the latest attack as “mindless,” referred to Syrian President Bashar Assad as an “animal” and said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “responsible” for enabling the carnage.
The president also warned Russia and Iran that there would be a “big price to pay” for backing the Assad regime and slammed former President Barack Obama, who vowed in 2012 that such actions would cross a “red line,” but later failed to enforce the promise a year later when hundreds of Syrians were killed by sarin gas. Instead, Obama brokered a multi-nation deal in which Assad pledged to remove his chemical-weapons stockpile.
[give_form id=”79809″] [contentcards url=”http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/04/08/airstrikes-hit-syria-after-deadly-chemical-attack-state-tv-reports.html” target=”_blank”]