US attack on Syria shoots down several Western missiles, says attacks 'doomed to fail'

Syrian air defenses have shot down approximately one third of the missiles fired at the capital, Damascus, by the US, the UK and France in a joint act of aggression, with Damascus saying the attacks are “doomed to fail.”

A pro-Damascus official told Reuters that a third of around 30 missiles fired in the aggression had been shot down, and that the targeted sites had earlier been evacuated upon Russia’s warning.

“We have absorbed the strike,” he said. “We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago.”

Meanwhile, Syria’s official SANA news agency described the Western strikes as illegal, saying, “The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community’s will, and it is doomed to fail.”

Additionally, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov warned of consequences for the US-led military strikes on Syria.

“A pre-designed scenario is being implemented,” he tweeted. “Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova took to Facebook to condemn the act of aggression, saying, “The capital of a sovereign government, trying for years to survive under terrorist aggression, has been attacked.”

“You have to be quite abnormal to attack Syria’s capital just at the moment when it had a chance for a peaceful future.”

In the early hours of Saturday, the United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of military strikes against multiple targets in Syria, using an alleged chemical attack near Damascus last week as a pretext to justify the campaign.

Trump embarked on a White House address to announce the action.