In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy, U.S. navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter fires a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. A total of 59 Tomahawk Land Attack missiles were launched from the destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea at about 8:40 p.m. EDT on April 6 (4:40 a.m. on Friday in Syria), and Syrian aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, fuel points, air defense systems, and radars were targeted, according to a Pentagon statement.(Xinhua/U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The White House said Monday that the U.S. is open to further action on Syria if Damascus continues to use chemical weapons.
"The sight of people being gassed and blown away by barrel bombs ensures that if we see this kind of action again, we hold open the possibility of future action," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a regular briefing.
The United States on Thursday launched 59 Tomahawk missiles at Syria to neutralize its chemical weapon arsenal, two days after reports of a chemical weapons attack emerged from the battleground in Syria, which the West said the Syrian government should be to blame.
"The resulting action of what happened ensured that their fueling operation is gone from this air facility, 20 percent of their fixed-wing aircraft were destroyed and knocked out," Spicer said of the U.S. missile attacks on Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump told Congress that his decision to attack Syria was in the interest of the United States, adding that further actions are being considered.
"I acted in the vital national security and foreign policy interest of the United States," Trump said in a letter to both chambers of Congress dated Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Russian government has condemned missile strikes by the U.S. on a Syrian airbase, calling Washington's move as "aggression against sovereign state in violation of international law."
