President Donald Trump has declared "Mission Accomplished" for a US-led allied missile attack on Syria's chemical weapons program, but the Pentagon says the pummelling of three chemical-related facilities left enough others intact to enable the Assad government to use banned weapons against civilians if it chooses.
"A perfectly executed strike," Trump tweeted on Saturday after US, French and British warplanes and ships launched more than 100 missiles nearly unopposed by Syrian air defences. "Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!"
The nighttime Syria assault was carefully limited to minimise civilian casualties and avoid direct conflict with Syria's key ally, Russia, but confusion arose over the extent to which Washington warned Moscow in advance.
The Pentagon said it gave no explicit warning. The US ambassador in Moscow, John Huntsman, said in a video, "Before we took action, the United States communicated with" Russia to "reduce the danger of any Russian or civilian casualties".
Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, said to her knowledge no one in the Defense Department communicated with Moscow in advance, other than the acknowledged use of a military-to-military hotline that has routinely helped minimise the risk of US-Russian collisions or confrontations in Syrian airspace.
Officials said this did not include giving Russian advance notice of where or when allied airstrikes would happen.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia tried to have the body condemn the Syria strikes Source: AAP
Russia and Iran called the use of force by the US and its allies a "military crime" and "act of aggression". The UN Security Council met to debate the strikes but rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of the "aggression" by the three Western allies.
Trump's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, told the session that the president has made it clear that if Assad uses poison gas again, "the United States is locked and loaded".
