Before dawn on Saturday, a coalition of U.S., U.K. and French forces launched more than 100 missiles targeting three chemical facilities in Syria in retaliation for an apparent chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians on April 7. New satellite images show a glimpse of the damage done by the strike.
A photograph released Sunday by DigitalGlobe, an American company that specializes in space imaging, appears to show what remains of the Barzah Research and Development Center in Damascus after being struck. According to a Pentagon official, targets were selected that participated in the research, development and deployment of chemical weapons.
Here’s what the Barzah site looked like before and after the strike:
A total of 76 missiles were launched on the Barzah site, according to Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., Department of Defense Joint Staff Director. “This is going to set the Syrian chemical weapons program back for years,” McKenzie said in a press briefing.
Syria condemned the attack as a “flagrant violation of the international law,” according to Syria’s official SANA news agency.
Syria has been locked in a civil war since 2011 that has killed at least 350,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.