Reports that Defense Secretary James Mattis urged the US President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before strikes on Syria are false, the White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

“Reports that Secretary Mattis urged the president to seek congressional approval before last week’s strikes in Syria are categorically false. As Secretary Mattis explained to Congress in yesterday’s all-member briefs, the president appropriately ordered the strikes under his constitutional authorities,” The Hill reported quoting Sarah Sanders.

As reported earlier, the US, UK and France have bombed three sites in Syria in an operation targeting chemical weapons facilities last week. The airstrikes in Syria were part of an effort to avoid future chemical attacks.