U.S. military leaders said on Friday that the U.S. attack against Syria in response to the alleged chemical attack against the rebel-held district of Douma near Damscus on April 7 was a "one-time shot."
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said on Friday that the attack had multiple targets in Syria, including a scientific research center in the greater Damascus area, a chemical weapon storage facility west of Holmes and a facility in the second target.
The first target was a military facility for Syrian research and development of chemical and biological warfare technology; the second was assessed as a primary location of Syrian sarin equipment and the third target, which was in the vicinity of the second target, contained a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post, he said.
The air and naval forces of three Western nations -- the United States and its European allies Britain and France -- were involved in the operation, he said.
This attack is "qualitatively and quantitatively" different from the U.S. unilateral attack against Syria last April, as it came this time "with two allies on multiple sites, which will result in the long-term degradation of Syria's capability to research, develop and deploy chemical and biological weapons," he also said.
U.S. defense chief James Mattis also said in a briefing that the attack targeted the Syrian government directly.
He added that "right now, this is a one-time shot." Yet he refused to rule out further attacks against Syria.
Earlier on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he ordered attacks against Syria in coordination with Britain and France to curb Syria's chemical weapons program.
Trump ordered an air strike against Syria last year to punish the government's another alleged use of chemical weapons against the civilians, in a move that he said has destroyed 20 percent of the Syrian air forces.
Activists and rebels in Syria claimed that Syrian forces used chlorine gas in the April 7 attack against Douma. The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news that the West uses to justify its attacks on the country.
