US warships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea fired 59 cruise missiles overnight at the Syrian air base from which the Pentagon says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces carried out Tuesday’s chemical weapons attack against rebel-held Homs province. The strikes against Shayrat airfield, in western Syria, are the first targeted US attack against Assad’s regime since the civil war started in 2011.

President Donald Trump ordered the strike late Thursday, saying it was in the United States’ “vital national security interest.” Some critics said Trump should have asked Congress before attacking a sovereign nation, but many US lawmakers put out statements approving of the strikes as a one-time “proportional response” to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

The Syrian army condemned the attack in a statement today, calling it a “blatant aggression” that makes the US “a partner” of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups. According to the army, six people were killed in the attack, which caused massive material damage. Russian TV said nine planes were destroyed.

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Russia is suspending its air safety agreement with the United States in Syria in response to overnight US missile strikes on a Syrian air base, the Foreign Ministry announced today. The ministry has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, believes the strikes violated international law, the Kremlin said, and will deal a heavy blow to relations between Moscow and Washington. Iran, another Assad ally, also condemned the attack as a violation of international law.

Meanwhile, US allies, including Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Denmark and Turkey, have applauded the strikes as proportional. The Syrian opposition said it hoped the United States will undertake more strikes to stop the regime from launching new raids against the rebels, said Ahmad Ramadan, head of the Syrian National Coalition’s media office.

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The West’s response to Tuesday’s suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria has caused friction between Russia and US ally Israel. In a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Israel’s conclusion that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had carried out the gas attack and called it “unacceptable to make groundless accusations against anyone without conducting a detailed and unbiased investigation.”

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Hungary has announced that it will work with Iran to set up a small nuclear reactor for educational and scientific purposes. The project, which will take place under the framework of an agreement between Iran, the European Union and the United States, was reportedly agreed to during a visit to Tehran by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in 2015. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed that year allows for cooperation with Iran in the field of nuclear technology.

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Libyan coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said a sea patrol had killed four heavily armed gunmen suspected of being migrant smugglers on Thursday. The suspects were escorting a migrant boat headed across the Mediterranean to Europe. The clash began when the coastguard patrol, which had detected the smugglers’ boat by radar off the western town of Zawiya, asked the men to stop, and they responded by opening fire.

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The head of the UN-backed humanitarian task force for Syria, Jan Egeland, said Thursday that a 72-hour cease-fire is urgently needed in eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, to allow aid to reach the besieged area. The Syrian regime has been imposing a siege on the last remaining opposition stronghold near the Syrian capital since 2012, leaving some 400,000 people in dire need of medical supplies, food and other types of aid.

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Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced Thursday that it has signed a $1.6 billion deal to supply the Indian army with its Barak 8, a medium-range surface-to-air defense missile system. In a separate deal, IAI will also supply India with a long-range surface-to-air missile defense system, which will be installed on India’s first aircraft carrier. The deal was approved by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his historic visit to Israel in February.

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