Hillary Clinton called for bombing Assad's airfields just hours before US airstrikes on Syria

Hillary Clinton called for a strikes on military targets in Syria hours before Donald Trump ordered the US to launch its missile attack.

In her first interview since her election defeat, the democrat said she favoured aggressive action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The military base, which President Trump claims was the launch site for a devastating chemical attack on civilians, was struck by a surprise barrage of missiles on Friday morning.

At a Women in the World Summit in New York, Clinton said the airfields needed to be taken out to prevent al-Assad from further attacks.

She said: "I think we should have been more willing to confront Assad.

"I really believe we should have and still should take out his air fields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them."

Trump took the toughest line of direct US action yet in Syria’s six-year-long civil war, raising risks of confrontation with Al-Assad’s two main military backers – Russia and Iran.

The Pentagon has confirmed that the US informed Russian ahead of the strike that saw 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles crash into the base.

A Syrian official said the attack killed three soldiers and two civilians while seven others were wounded.

Speaking from Florida, US President Donald Trump delivered an emotional message to the public in which he evoked images of children dying.

Hillary called for the airstrike just hours before bombings of Assad's airfields
Getty Images

Mr Trump said: " 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.

"Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack.

"Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched.

"It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”

Britain backed the overnight strike that Syrian officals say killed three and wounded seven, with Downing Street offering its full support to the US President.

The missiles were a direct response to an attack using a suspected mixture of chlorine and nerve agent in the largely opposition-held Idlib province on Tuesday.

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