U.S. : Open to strike Syria again

United States open to launch additional strike against Syria again if use of chemical weapons continues; Pentagon says, Monday’s strikes at Syria’s Shayrat airbase destroy 20 per cent of Syria’s warplanes.

The US warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against using chemical weapons again and asserted that its air strikes on a Syrian air base had destroyed a fifth of his regime’s working warplanes.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said, issuing a stern warning to the Assad regime came even as the White House insisted that the Syrian President, who used chemical weapons against its own people, should not stay in power.

Mattis said the US military strike against Shayrat airfield on April 6 was a measured response to the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons. He added that the assessment of the Department of Defence was that the strike resulted in the damage or destruction of fuel and ammunition sites, air defence capabilities, and 20 per cent of Syria’s operational aircraft.