What next after Donald Trump's Syria airstrikes? Fears world "could be at most dangerous point since Cold War"

Trump ordered around 60 missile strikes on a Syrian airbase, but the move was condemned as an act of aggression by Russia's Vladimir Putin

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ByJack Blanchard

• 11:01, 7 APR 2017

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Watch moment US launches tomahawk missiles at Syria from Mediterranean Sea

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The world woke up this morning to news that US missiles last night rained down on a Syrian airbase .
It came after around 70 civilians were killed on Tuesday in a chlorine gas attack believed to have been masterminded by President Bashar al-Assad's regime .
President Donald Trump announced in retaliation, saying: "Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many."
But the US response was immediately condemned by Russia's Vladimir Putin as an act of aggression against a sovereign country that put the fight against terrorism in jeopardy.
Here, Mirror political editor Jack Blanchard looks at what the military action means for the world...

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US airstrikes after Syria chemical weapons attack

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  Latest updates

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  Watch Trump's full address to world

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  What happens now?

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  Putin condemns US airstrikes

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  Britain backs US missile attacks

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  Trump orders bombs on Syria air base

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  World War 3 gets a little closer

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  Corbyn's response

Donald Trump’s decision to launch more than 50 US cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield last night could prove a watershed moment in the bloody civil war which has torn the region apart.
It will also have huge implications for America’s relations with Russia, and indeed for Mr Trump’s own Presidency.
And it may even start to suck Britain into a military conflict which since 2011 we have carefully avoided.
The most important message of the US missile strike is that the West has, at last, drawn a line in the sand.

Trump announces the airstrikes from his Florida retreat (Photo: AFP)

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• World War Three just got more likely as Donald Trump bombs Syria powder keg

Before Tuesday’s chemical attack by Syrian leader President Bashar al-Assad in Idlib, President Trump had shown no interest in finding a military solution to the six-year civil war.His priority seemed to be improving relations with Russia - President Assad’s closest ally.
All that has now changed.
Assad will today be under no illusions that he has overstepped the mark. The prospect of him using chemical weapons again now seems unlikely.

Around 70 civilians died in Tuesday's gas attack

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• Syrian refugee Bana Alabed, 7, tweets support for Donald Trump's airstrikes because Putin and Assad "killed my friends"

And – unlike in 2013, when Assad last used chemical gas against his citizens - his state sponsors at the Kremlin know the West means business when it says it will not tolerate this type of attack.Russia, meanwhile, is furious at the sudden intervention. The Kremlin said today that huge damage has been done to relations with America.
But it appears President Trump is more interested in pleasing his own supporters back home with a real show of strength, following a series of domestic failures from his botched ‘travel ban’ to his failure to repeal Obamacare.

Putin has condemned Trump's actions (Photo: Getty)

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• History repeating itself? US airstrikes on Syria come EXACTLY 100 years after America entered WWI

The key question now is what the erratic President does next.As things stand this appears to be a one-off attack, aimed at the airfield and aircraft which delivered the deadly attack in Idlib.
It may well prove to be the extent of Western military action in Syria.
But if it proves to be the start of a more significant involvement by America, then pressure will start to bear on Britain to get involved.

Assad's regime stands accused of war crimes (Photo: REUTERS)

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• Britain backs Donald Trump's missile strikes on Syrian airbase following Assad's 'barbaric' chemical weapons attack

Already this morning Lib Dem leader Tim Farron is calling for the UK to consider ‘surgical strikes’ against the Assad regime.But any sustained Western attack on Syria could lead to a direct conflict with Russia, which has a huge military presence in Syria in support of the Assad regime.
And that would bring the world to its most dangerous point since the end of the Cold War.