title: Germany says U.S. informed it of missile strikes shortly before launch
text: BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States informed Germany shortly before it launched missile strikes on a Syrian airbase from which Washington said a deadly chemical weapons attack had been launched this week, a German government spokesman said on Friday. “The U.S. government informed the chancellery and defense minister during the night,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference. A spokesman for the defense ministry added: “The defense minister was informed about the strikes by her American colleague James Mattis shortly beforehand.” A spokesman for Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the United States had given Berlin the impression during the contact overnight that this was a targeted and limited attack.  