Syrian airfield hit by US is back in use: report

The Syrian military has started relocating fighter jets to an airfield struck by U.S. Tomahawk missiles in April, according to a new report.

Syria has also repaired some of the damage to Shayrat airfield after last month’s bombardment, BuzzFeed reported Thursday.

Two U.S. defense officials told BuzzFeed that Syria began returning Su-22 and MiG-23 planes back to Shayrat this week.

{mosads}The officials said that the aircraft had previously been distributed across parts of Syria controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad.

BuzzFeed’s sources added that it is unclear whether there are any chemical weapons remaining at Shayrat, an assessment the Trump administration first made in April.

Defense officials told BuzzFeed that last month’s missile strike against Shayrat was never intended to render the field inoperable.

“We would have expected them to return to that military base,” one defense official said.

President Trump last month ordered a missile strike in Syria in response to a chemical attack there that officials said was carried out by forces loyal to Assad.

The Pentagon said warships launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat on April 6 following reports that the gas attack originated in the area.

“It is in the vital national security interests of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. “There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons.”

Shayrat is located near Homs, Syria, the reported location of April’s sarin gas attack that killed more than 80 civilians, including children.

April’s missile strike was the first direct U.S. assault on Assad’s government and remains the most significant military action of Trump’s presidency so far.