REUTERS
The U.S. cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base last week damaged or destroyed 20 percent of Syria's operational aircraft, as well as fuel and ammunition sites and air defense capabilities, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday, according to Reuters.
"The Syrian government has lost the ability to refuel or re-arm aircraft at Shayrat airfield and at this point, use of the runway is of idle military interest," Mattis said in a statement, Reuters reports.
"The Syrian government would be ill-advised ever again to use chemical weapons."
Read alsoPoroshenko welcomes U.S. action to prevent Assad's future war crimesAs UNIAN reported earlier, on April 7, the United States carried out a cruise missile strike on a Syrian airbase in Homs province, from where warplanes of Bashar al Assad's forces with chemical weapons had reportedly taken off in an attack against civilians