Scene of the airstrike on Syria by the US, UK, and France coalition
Three scientific research centers and several military bases around the capital Damascus, Syria, were hit by missiles.
Anti-aircraft missiles appeared in the sky over the Syrian capital at dawn on April 14 as the US launched an attack on several areas of the capital Damascus. Syrian state media said the country's air defense system shot down about 20 missiles launched by the US, UK and France.
Witnesses in the capital Damascus said they heard loud explosions and saw white smoke rising. Another witness said the Barzah district of Damascus, which is home to a major Syrian scientific research center, was hit by a missile.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said the US had selected targets to “reduce the associated risk to Russian forces”. Russia began fighting in Syria in 2015, backing the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
The airstrikes on the morning of April 14 were the biggest military intervention by Western powers in the seven-year conflict in Syria.
A fighter jet prepares to take off from the British RAF Akrotiri air base in Cyprus in the early hours of April 14 as a coalition of France, Britain and the United States launched an attack on the Syrian capital.
Eyewitness video shows the skies over Damascus in the early hours of April 14 as the airstrikes began. As the US President spoke from the White House on the evening of April 13, Washington DC time, the first missiles were launched at targets in Damascus. British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron said they stood with the US in response to the "heinous and evil chemical attack" by the "monster" Assad.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed that the number of weapons deployed in this airstrike was twice as large as the attack on Syria's Al-Shayrat military airport in April 2017. At that time, the US launched 59 cruise missiles from two destroyers off the coast of Syria.
A view of the Mazze district in Damascus early on April 14 after airstrikes by the US, UK and France ended. In the photo, two local men walk past a mosque.
A deserted street scene in Damascus after the US ended its airstrikes on Syria. US defense officials said the campaign was a long one and the strikes would only officially end when the Syrian government stopped using chemical weapons. Defense Secretary James Mattis said there had been no US casualties.
People pray at a mosque after an airstrike. Three sites in Syria were targeted by the US, UK and France, including a scientific research centre near Damascus and a chemical weapons storage facility in Homs. The third target was a key command post and much of the equipment in Syria's chemical weapons programme in Homs.
