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ByJuliePace The Associated Press PALM BEACH, FLA. The United States vowed Fri- day to keep the pressure on Syria after the intense nighttime wave of missile strikes from U.S. ships, de- spite the prospect of esca- lating Russian ill will that could further inflame one of the world's most vexing conflicts. Standing firm, the Trump administration sig- naled new sanctions would soon follow the missile at- tack, and the Pentagon was even probing whether Rus- sia itself was involved in the chemical weapons assault that compelled President Donald Trump to action. The attack against a Syrian air base was the first U.S. assault against the govern- ment of President Bashar Assad. Much of the interna- tional community rallied behind Trump's decision to fire the cruise missiles in reaction to this week's chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of men, women and children in Syria. But a spokesman for Russian President Vladi- mir Putin warned that the strikes dealt "a significant blow" to relations between Moscow and Washington. At the United Nations, Russia's deputy ambassa- dor, Vladimir Safronkov, strongly criticized what he called the U.S. "flagrant vi- olation of international law and an act of aggression" whose "consequences for re- gional and international se- curitycouldbeextremelyse- rious." He called the Assad government a main force against terrorism and said it deserved the presumption of innocence in the chemi- cal weapons attack. U.S. officials blame Mos- cow for propping up Assad. "The world is waiting for the Russian government to act responsibly in Syria," Nikki Haley, the U.S. am- bassador to the U.N., said during an emergency Secu- rity Council session. "The world is waiting for Rus- sia to reconsider its mis- placed alliance with Bashar Assad." Haley said the U.S. was prepared to take further action in Syria but hoped it wouldn't be necessary. In Florida with the pres- ident, meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, "We will be announc- ing additional sanctions on Syria as part of our ongo- ing effort to stop this type of activity and emphasize how significant we view this. We expect that those will continue to have an im- portant effect on preventing people from doing business with them." Thursday night's strikes — some 60 cruise missiles fired from two ships in the Mediterranean — were the culmination of a rapid, three-day transformation for Trump, who has long opposed deeper U.S. in- volvement in Syria's civil war. Advisers said he was outraged by heartbreak- ing images of young chil- dren who were among the dozens killed in the chem- ical attack and ordered his national security team to swiftly prepare military options. The decision undercut another campaign promise for Trump: his pledge to try to warm relations with Moscow. After months of al- legations of ties between his election campaign and the Kremlin — the subject of current congressional and FBI investigations — Trump has found himself clashing with Putin. On Friday, senior U.S. military officials were look- ing more closely at possible Russian involvement in the poison attack. Officials said a drone belonging to either Russia or Syria was seen hovering over the site af- ter the assault earlier this week. The drone returned late in the day as citizens were going to a nearby hos- pital for treatment. Shortly afterward, officials say the hospital was targeted. The officials, who in- sisted on anonymity in or- der to discuss the sensitive matter, said they believe the hospital attack may have been an effort to cover up evidence of the earlier as- sault. White House officials caution that Trump is not preparing to plunge the U.S. deeper into Syria. Spokes- man Sean Spicer said the missile attack sent a clear message to Assad, but he avoided explicitly calling for the Syrian to leave office. "The president believes that the Syrian govern- ment, the Assad regime, should at the minimum agree to abide by the agree- ments they made to not use chemical weapons," Spicer said when asked if Assad should step down. The impact of the strikes was also unclear. Despite intense international pres- sure, Assad has clung to power since a civil war broke out in his country six years ago, helped by fi- nancial and military sup- port from both Russia and Iran. Russian military per- sonnel and aircraft are em- bedded with Syria's, and Iranian troops and para- military forces are also on the ground helping Assad fight the array of opposi- tion groups hoping to top- ple him. The missile strikes hit the government-controlled Shayrat air base in cen- tral Syria, where U.S. offi- cials say the Syrian mili- tary planes that dropped the chemicals had taken off. The missiles targeted the base's airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammu- nition areas, officials said. Trump's decision to strike Syria won wide- spread praise from other nations, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which support the Syrian oppo- sition. British Prime Min- ister Theresa May's office said the action was "an ap- propriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syr- ian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks." France, Italy and Israel also welcomed the strikes. SYRIA US s tr ik es w in g lo ba l pr ai se — but ratchet up Russia tension WHITEHOUSE President Donald Trump receives a briefing on the Syria military strike from his National Security team a er the strike at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday night. SUSAN WALSH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., center, an opponent of U.S. military action in Syria, speaks to reporters following a briefing on Syria on Capitol Hill in Washington on Friday. By Ken Thomas and Richard Lardner The Associated Press WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's military strike against Syria drew strong push-back from an odd mix of libertarian Re- publicans, Democrats and the far-right conservatives who have long insisted on Congress' constitutional authority for acts of war. Trump burnished an "America first" foreign pol- icy during his 2016 cam- paign, warning that ri- val Hillary Clinton would dangerously order U.S. sol- diersintointernationalcon- flicts. He was often critical of former President Barack Obama's handling of the Syria crisis in 2013 and urged him at the time to seekcongressionalapproval for any military action. But the president said Thursday night that the airstrikes were in the "vi- tal national security in- terest" of the U.S. and ac- cused Syrian President Bashar Assad of having "choked" his own citizens in a chemical attack. Trump's decision to launch the airstrikes on a Syrian military base rep- resented an about-face at the start of his presidency and angered Republicans and Democrats, who said the U.S. Constitution gave Congress sole power to declare war. They urged Trump to come to Con- gress to get authorization for military force. "The Constitution is very clear that war orig- inates in the legislature," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a leader of the party's non- interventionist wing who challenged Trump for the GOP nomination. Paul, who called the Syria strike unconstitu- tional, said Friday be- fore a closed-door briefing for lawmakers that they weren't learning about the intelligence that led the president to order the strike until the day after the missiles were launched. Sen. Chris Murphy, D- Conn., said, "If there's no strategy on Syria, he clearly made this decision based off of an emotional reaction to the images on TV, and it should worry ev- eryone about the quixotic nature of this administra- tion's foreign policy." Any attempt by Trump to push a new war powers resolution through Con- gress would be difficult. Obama asked lawmakers two years ago to formally authorize war against the Islamic State but they never acted on the pro- posal. Syria action unnerves GOP libertarians, Dems MISSILE STRIKE 6,505fans+29 this week Facebook Page YOU'LL LIKE WHAT YOU SEE ..andgrowing,everyweek! Daily News Facebook fans receive special posts of breaking news, sports, weather and road closures, clicking right to full stories and photos published on redbluffdailynews.com ... Tehama County's most-visited local website ... things that fans want to know about, sooner rather than later! 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