On Thursday night, the United States launched over 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha’irat, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Homs. Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on the Syrian government.
On Tuesday, the Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces reported that a chemical weapon attack in Syria’s Idlib province claimed the lives of some 80 people and inflicted harm on an additional 200 civilians. The coalition, as well as a number of Western states, blamed the Syrian government troops for the attack, while Damascus has refuted these allegations.
However, in June 2016, the US State Department published a report which said Syria had continued to use chemical substances against citizens and suggested the country could also stockpile chemical weapons. After the report was released, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo said that UN and OPCW experts still could not confirm the complete destruction of chemical weapon production facilities in Syria.