U.S., British and French forces hit Syria with air strikes early on Saturday in response to a suspected poison gas attack that killed more than 70 civilians last week, in the biggest intervention by Western powers against Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad.
Strikes carried out on Syria targeted three facilities associated with the government's chemical weapons programme, U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford has told reporters in Washington.
The first target was a scientific research center outside of Damascus and the second was a chemical weapons storage facility outside of Homs, he said.
The third target was near to the second and was a chemical weapons storage facility and an important command post, he said.
The current wave of airstrikes, which would result in a "long-term degredation" to Syria's ability to research and produce chemical weapons, was now over, Dunford said.
U.S. officials said there was no indication so far that Syrian air defenses struck attacking Western aircraft or ships.
They characterized this year's strikes as more significant than the one waged last year, saying double the number of weapons were used this time.
"We were very precise and proportionate," James Mattis said. "But at the same time, it was a heavy strike."
Last year, 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the guided-missile destroyers USS Porter and the USS Ross struck Syria's Shayrat air base.
The targets of that strike included Syrian aircraft, aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage facilities, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems and radar.
At the time, the Pentagon claimed that a fifth of Syria's operational aircraft was either damaged or destroyed.
