US Missile Attack on Syria Signals Pentagon's Clashes With Trump - Russian MP

The US Department of Defense seems to disagree with President Donald Trump's softening stance toward the Syrian government by striking an army airfield in the Arab republic, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Russian upper house of parliament, Kosachev wrote on Facebook, "the sharp tougher US stance toward [Syrian President Bashar] Assad occurred only a couple of days after its softening."

"There is a firm impression that neither the Pentagon nor the US special services agreed with this thesis, and Trump was immediately pinned to yet another wall of 'irrefutable evidence'," Kosachev stated.

The US launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha'irat near Homs late Thursday. Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on Damascus.