(CNN) The United States launched a military strike Thursday on a Syrian government airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians earlier in the week. On President Donald Trump's orders, US warships launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the airbase that was home to the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks, US officials said. Latest: Russia condemns Syria missile strike ordered by Trump The strike is the first direct military action taken by the US against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's six-year civil war. It represents a substantial escalation of the US military campaign in the region, and could be interpreted by the Syrian government as an act of war.Trump condemned the chemical attacks earlier this week"I think what Assad did is terrible," he said earlier Thursday
The US military on Thursday showed reporters an image of the radar track of a _ airplane leaving the airfield and flying to the chemical strike area Tuesday. A senior administration official told CNN Friday that the strike should not be interpreted as the beginning of a wider campaign to weaken or remove _, but instead is aimed at dealing with the "unacceptability" of Assad's use of chemical weapons. "While we all condemn the atrocities in _, the United States was not attacked," Paul said.