Headline news: How the world reported Trump's missile attack on Syria
The first of 59 Tomahawk missiles was launched at 12.50pm GMT on Thursday afternoon. But we wouldn’t hear about it till the early hours of Friday morning, when US President Donald Trump took to a podium in Palm Beach, Florida.
“Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched,” he said. “It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”
The first military action by Trump, and the first US military action in Syria, sent the news media scrambling to redo their front pages and update their websites. Press in Britain, Israel and Saudi Arabia expressed support, while their counterparts in Russia and Iran were predictably disapproving.
Fox News backed Trump, publishing an opinion piece that praised his decision to launch air strikes, saying the President “appears to be reasserting American moral leadership, as President Reagan once did”.
READ MORE: Latest updated on the US strikes in Syria
Robert Charles, a former assistant secretary of state for President George W Bush, wrote: “Here was a new ‘shot heard round the world’ – or rather 60 of them.”
The Washington Post stated: “US strikes Syrian military airfield”, while the LA Times went simply with: “US strikes Syria”.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal said the decision to order military strikes in Syria sets Mr Trump’s presidency on a “new and unpredictable course that is likely to shape his time in office”.
Click through the images above for a broad view of media reactions to the missile strikes.
– With inputs by David Harding
