The US called for support to end the conflict in Syria after it launched a missile strike early yesterday on a Syrian air base in response to this week’s chemical attack, while Russia condemned the move as “aggression” and suspended crucial coordination with Washington in Syria’s congested skies.
The missile attack, which marked the first time the US has directly targeted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, was condemned by his allies in Russia and Iran, but welcomed by the Syrian opposition and its supporters, who expressed hope it signaled a turning point in the devastating six-year-old civil war.
US President Donald Trump called on “all civilized nations” to join the US in seeking an end to the carnage in Syria.
Photo: US Navy via AP
A total of 59 Tomahawk missiles hit Shayrat Air Force Base, a small installation with two runways, where Syrian warplanes often take off to bomb targets in northern and central Syria.
The US missiles hit at 3:45am yesterday and targeted the base’s airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition areas, US officials said.
They were fired from two US warships in the Mediterranean Sea, in retaliation for Tuesday’s deadly chemical attack, which officials said used chlorine mixed with a nerve agent, possibly sarin.
The Syrian military said at least seven people were killed and nine wounded in the strike.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitor, also put the death toll at seven, including one general and three soldiers.
The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes the US strike is an “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law.”
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin believes the US launched the strike under a “far-fetched pretext.”
“Washington’s move deals a significant blow to the Russia-US relations, which are already in a deplorable shape,” Peskov said
The missile attack created a “serious obstacle” to establishing an international coalition to combat terrorism, he added.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is suspending a memorandum with Washington — signed after Russia began an air campaign in support of al-Assad in September 2015 — under which the two countries exchange information about sorties over Syria.
The Kremlin later moved to diminish the attack, saying that just 23 of 59 cruise missiles reached the air base and destroyed six Syrian jets, but left the runways intact.
Moscow also confirmed it had been informed of the attack in advance.
Major Jamil al-Saleh, a US-backed rebel commander based in the area where the US attack took place, told reporters that he hoped the strike would be a “turning point” in the war, which has killed an estimated 400,000 people.
Al-Assad’s government had been under mounting international pressure after the chemical attack, which killed 87 people, including 31 children.
Even Russia has said its support is not unconditional.
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