First daughter Ivanka Trump on Friday praised President Trump’s decision to launch a missile strike against a Syrian airfield following a deadly chemical attack.
“The times we are living in call for difficult decisions — Proud of my father for refusing to accept these horrendous crimes against humanity,” she wrote on Twitter.
The times we are living in call for difficult decisions – Proud of my father for refusing to accept these horrendous crimes against humanity https://t.co/yV0oJuC9dE
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 7, 2017
The U.S. conducted a missile strike in Syria late Thursday in response to a gas attack there earlier this week that killed dozens of civilians, including children; U.S. and Western officials have said the gas attack was carried out by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The Pentagon said U.S. warships fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at the Shayrat Air Base near the Syrian city of Homs, which was reportedly the origin of Tuesday’s chemical strike.
Trump said Thursday he was moved to action by the harm caused by the horrific gas attack.
“It is in the vital national interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” he said at his Mar-a-Largo resort in Palm Beach, Fla. “There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons.”
“Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for many. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.”
Thursday’s strike is the United States’ first direct assault against Assad’s government and the most significant military action of Trump’s presidency so far.
The missile launch also complicates Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long supported Assad’s government against rebels seeking to oust him from power in Syria’s ongoing civil war.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Friday that it is suspending a communications channel set up with the U.S. to avoid midair collisions between Russian pilots and their American counterparts in Syrian airspace.
The U.S. and Russia established the so-called deconfliction line in October 2015 after Russian air forces first intervened in the country’s civil war.
The Kremlin on Friday condemned Trump’s military action in Syria, calling it an “act of aggression” based on a “far-fetched pretext.”
“Washington’s move deals a significant blow to the Russia-U.S. relations, which are already in deplorable shape,” a Putin spokesman said.
