Trump launches attack on Syria with 59 Tomahawk missiles; A message to North Korea , China and Russia

President Trump’s limited, proportional missile strike on a single Syrian air base had a clear purpose: Punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for having launched a chemical weapons attack that killed over 85 of his citizens and deter him (and others) from engaging in similar WMD-related war crimes.

"On Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad
launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on
innocent civilians. Using a deadly nerve agent,
Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women
and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so
many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered
in this very barbaric attack," Trump said Thursday
night.
A U.S. defense official called the U.S. strike a "one-
off," Reuters reported. Nine civilians including four
children were killed, the Syrian state news agency
claimed, but the Pentagon said civilians were not
targeted.

Here's what the president had to say in a Thursday
evening address:

My fellow Americans: On Tuesday, Syrian
dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible
chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians.
Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out
the lives of helpless men, women and children.
It was a slow and brutal death for so many.
Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in
this very barbaric attack. No child of God
should ever suffer such horror.
Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on
the airfield in Syria from where the chemical
attack was launched. It is in this vital national
security interest of the United States to prevent
and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. There can be no dispute
that Syria used banned chemical weapons,
violated its obligations under the Chemical
Weapons Convention, and ignored the urging of
the U.N. Security Council.
Years of previous attempts at changing Assad's
behavior have all failed, and failed very
dramatically. As a result, the refugee crisis
continues to deepen and the region continues to
destabilize, threatening the United States and
its allies.
Tonight, I call on all civilized nations to join us
in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed
in Syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds
and all types. We ask for God's wisdom as we
face the challenge of our very troubled world.
We pray for the lives of the wounded and for
the souls of those who have passed. And we
hope that as long as America stands for justice,
then peace and harmony will, in the end, prevail.
Goodnight. And God bless America and the
entire world. Thank you.

To North Korea, the strike is a warning that Mr. Trump is willing to match action with his tough tweets warning that the U.S. will not permit Pyongyang to threaten American security by marrying its small nuclear arsenal with intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching our shores. North Korea is also believed to possess chemical weapons which it could reign down on Seoul and American forces stationed near the South Korean capital in the event of conflict.
To China, it shows that Mr. Trump is prepared to make good on his pledge to take unilateral action against North Korea if Beijing is unwilling to pressure its mercurial neighbor into suspending, if not dismantling its own nuclear program.
And perhaps most important, the strike shows Russia that President Trump’s unlikely bromance with Russia’s autocratic ruler Vladimir Putin has its limits, and that Mr. Trump is likely to insist that Mr. Putin stop making excuses for his brutal client and contain Mr. Assad’s most outrageous conduct.
Military action which throws Moscow off-balance could not come at a better time for Mr. Trump, whose administration is beset by multiple investigations into whether his campaign officials colluded with Russia in interfering in America’s presidential election and whether such collusion helped elect Mr. Trump over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.