On 14 April 2018, beginning at 04:00 Syrian time (UTC+3), the United States, France, and the United Kingdom carried out a series of military strikes involving aircraft and ship-based missiles against multiple government sites in Syria during the Syrian Civil War. The strikes were a reprisal for the Douma chemical attack against civilians on 7 April, widely attributed to the Syrian government. The Syrian government called the airstrikes a violation of international law.
Background
A Syrian government offensive to recapture the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta suburb began in February 2018. The offensive was condemned by Western media and human rights organizations for its reportedly brutal humanitarian consequences. By the beginning of April, Douma was one of the last rebel enclaves remaining in the region, with rebel group Jaysh al-Islam in control of the city. Russian and Syrian state media reported a deal between the rebel group and Russia to hand over Douma to government control. Other news agencies reported members of the rebel group claiming a deal had not been brokered and that Jaysh al-Islam would not surrender Douma. What followed was a suspected chemical attack carried out in the Syrian city of Douma on 7 April 2018, with at least 70 people reported killed. One pro-opposition source said that a thousand people suffered from the effects. The Jaysh al-Islam rebel group, which controlled Douma at the time, along with several medical, monitoring, and activist groups, including the pro-rebel White Helmets (Syria Civil Defence), all reported that two Syrian Air Force Mi-8 helicopters had dropped barrel bombs. The bombs were filled with chlorine gas and possibly sarin. The World Health Organization said it received reports from partner agencies that some 500 people arrived at health facilities showing "signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals." On 6 July 2018, the OPCW produced an interim report stating that chlorine residues had been found at the two attack sites, although no organophosphorous nerve agents or their degradation products were detected.
As with previous incidents, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other nations accused the Syrian government of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons. Russia and Iran, the Syrian government's main allies, denied chemical weapons had been used, claiming it was a false flag operation. Russia has said video of the chemical attack was staged by members of the White Helmets. Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said that the Saudi Arabian-backed Jaysh al-Islam was making "chemical attack fabrications in an exposed and failed attempt to obstruct advances by the Syrian Arab Army".
In May 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron said the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a red line requiring immediate reprisal. France and the United States cited positive urine and blood samples collected as proof of chlorine being used in Douma.
In the early hours of 9 April 2018, an airstrike was conducted against Tiyas Military Airbase in Syria. The United States denied launching the airstrike, and an Israeli spokeswoman declined to comment. On 10 April, an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting was held where competing solutions were presented on how to handle the response to the chemical attack; all were eventually vetoed by Russia. By 11 April, Western nations began to consider military action in Syria, seeking a "strong joint response." On the same day, the Syrian government said it invited the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate the sites of the attacks. "Syria is keen on cooperating with the OPCW to uncover the truth behind the allegations that some western sides have been advertising to justify their aggressive intentions," said SANA, quoting an official source in the Foreign Ministry. Russia denied chemical weapons were used, and on 13 April, blamed Britain for staging the event in order to provoke US airstrikes.
By 12 April, British Prime Minister Theresa May had ordered Royal Navy submarines in the Mediterranean to move within cruise missile range of Syria by the end of the week. British military sources later told The Times that days before the missile strikes a British Astute-class submarine armed with Tomahawk missiles and approaching within firing range of Syrian military targets was chased by "one, and possibly two" Russian Kilo-class submarines from the Russian Navy base at Tartus. The Russian submarines were supported by two frigates and an antisubmarine aircraft, while the British submarine was assisted by a US Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft. Ultimately, no British submarine took part in the strikes.
Military action
International law
The United Nations Charter requires a mandate from the United Nations Security Council for sovereign states to use force for the purpose of maintaining international security, but not for acting in self-defence or the protection of populations threatened by extermination at the hands of their own government. Since the UN Charter came into effect in 1945, military action in retaliation or reprisal to the act of another state has been prohibited; but a reprisal may be justified if its aim is to force the other state into compliance with its international obligations. Russia's use of its veto meant there was no prospect of the Security Council authorizing the use of force. Therefore, military action relies on an international public order argument based on defending the credibility of the prohibition of the use of chemical weapons, enforcing Syria's obligations under the terms of its membership of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and protecting civilians from further chemical weapon attacks to alleviate humanitarian suffering.
The strikes came hours before inspectors from the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission were due to arrive in Syria to investigate the attack.
The United Kingdom published its legal position regarding military action which concluded limited strikes are justified on humanitarian grounds. After the strikes, the UK Parliament debated the considerations under international law regarding the urgency of the intervention, and whether there was a lack of practical alternatives.
Forces involved
The strikes were carried out by the forces of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France and were delivered by ship-launched, submarine-launched and airborne cruise missiles. All of the missiles launched by British and French forces were either Storm Shadow (SCALP EG) missiles, or Missile de Croisière Naval (MdCN for Naval Cruise Missile) sea-launched cruise missiles in French service.
Flying from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, four Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 fighters of No. 31 Squadron, supported by four Eurofighter Typhoon air superiority fighters of No. 6 Squadron, fired a total of eight Storm Shadow missiles. The Royal Navy deployed the Type 45 destroyer, HMS Duncan, to provide air defense for allied naval forces. The French Navy deployed a strike group in the Eastern Mediterranean consisting of the Cassard-class frigate Cassard, the Georges Leygues-class frigate Jean de Vienne, the Durance-class tanker Var, and the FREMM multipurpose frigates Aquitaine, Auvergne, and Languedoc; the latter ship fired three MdCN land attack missiles. The French strike group was accompanied by the US Navy Virginia-class submarine USS John Warner, which launched six Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The French Air Force participation in the strikes consisted of five Rafale B fighters from the Escadron de Chasse 1/4 Gascogne based at Saint-Dizier Air Base, each carrying two SCALP EG missiles, four Mirage 2000-5F air superiority fighters from the Escadron de chasse 1/2 Cigognes from Luxeuil Air Base, two E-3F airborne early warning and control planes from the 36e Escadre de commandement et de conduite aéroportée Berry from Avord Air Base, and six C-135FR tankers from the Groupe de ravitaillement en vol 2/91 Bretagne from Istres Air Base.
US forces included two US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers from the 34th Bomb Squadron, which fired a total of nineteen JASSM missiles after taking off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. They were accompanied by four F-22A Raptor air superiority fighters from the 95th Fighter Squadron, two KC-10 Extender tankers from the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron and one US Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler electronic-warfare aircraft from VMAQ-2, which all departed from Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. Immediately after the strike it was claimed that long-range JASSM-ER had been fired by the two B-1B Lancer bombers, but five days later, the U.S. Air Force Central Command issued a correction saying that actually older JASSM-A were used. From a position in the Red Sea the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Laboon fired seven and the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Monterey thirty Tomahawk cruise missiles, while the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Higgins fired twenty-three Tomahawks from a position in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, USS Donald Cook was reported to have participated in order to mislead defending forces, firing no missiles. US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said twice as many weapons were used in the strike as in the 2017 Shayrat missile strike; an anonymous US Defense Department official quoted by The Washington Post said about 100 Tomahawk missiles were fired by the US.
The US Air Force also deployed a fighter group over the Eastern Mediterranean in the air-superiority and defensive-counter-air role, which consisted of at least eight F-15C Eagle fighters from the 493d Fighter Squadron and seven F-16C Falcon fighters from the 510th Fighter Squadron. The fighters were accompanied by at least two KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft from the 351st Air Refueling Squadron.
According to US military's Director of the Joint Staff, the allocation of missiles to targets was:
Syria responded using its air defense systems, and its state media aired a video purporting to show a successful missile interception. The Syrian state news agency SANA and Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military said Syria used Russian and Soviet air defense systems Pantsir-S1, S-125, S-200, Buk, and Kvadrat.
Strikes
President Donald Trump announced the strikes at 9 pm EDT, 13 April (4 AM, 14 April in Syria, 2 AM in London, 3 AM in Paris) along with allies France and the United Kingdom. Explosions were heard in Damascus, the capital of Syria, just as Trump was speaking. According to US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, Russia had not been warned in advance of the incoming attack; he was contradicted by other American and French officials.