Condemnations of Flagrant US Aggression on Syria

Putin Considers US Attack in Syria Aggression Against Sovereign State – Kremlin

MOSCOW-The United States’ missile strikes on a military airfield in Syria violates international law and represents an act of aggression against a sovereign state under a far-fetched pretext, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, according to Sputnik.

 The US launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha’irat near Homs late Thursday under the pretext of the alleged chemical weapon use in Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on Damascus.

 President [Vladimir] Putin regards the US attacks on Syria as an aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law, and under a trumped-up pretext at that,” Pesov told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also sees the latest US missile strikes on a military airfield in Syria as an attempt to distract from the mounting civilian casualties in Iraq, the Kremlin added.

US Actions in Syria Reminiscent of Military Intervention in Iraq – Lavrov

Meantime, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the United States’ latest missile attack on a Syrian airfield is reminiscent of its military intervention in Iraq 14 years ago.

Thursday attack that killed seven people, according to the Homs governor, was an “act of aggression under an absolutely false pretext.”

The United States did not bother to provide evidence of this week’s chemical weapons attack in Syria’s Idlib ahead of launching missiles at its military airfield, Lavrov said.

“Now they did not even bother to provide any facts, referring only to photographs and again speculating on the photos of children and of course on the testimony of various non-governmental organizations… to provoke actions against the Syrian government,” Lavrov said.

However, Russia will demand the eventual disclosure of truth behind the United States’ decision to attack a Syrian military airfield, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized.

“I do not know when we will happen to learn the whole truth on how decisions were made to attack Syria in this situation, but I think that of course the truth must be demanded, and we will do this,” he said, as quoted by Sputnik.

The deadly US missile strike on a Syrian airfield was an attempt to distract attention from the terrorist group known commonly as the Nusra Front (banned in Russia), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov believes.

He expressed an opinion that the group “continues to be seen as a reserve unit in order to move from negotiations to regime change.”

Russia hopes the latest US missile attack on a Syrian military airfield does not lead to irreversible results, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted.

Russia will draw conclusions toward the future of its relations with the United States following the deadly US missile strike on a Syrian airfield, Lavrov told reporters.

Lavrov, speaking in Uzbekistan, accused Obama-era “functionaries” of forecasting a breakdown in Russian-US cooperation in the wake of the late Thursday strikes.

“I hope that they will be put to shame, although of course we will draw our own conclusions for our future relations,” he said.

Russia Suspends Memorandum With US on Flight Safety in Syria – Foreign Ministry

Russia has suspended its memorandum of understanding on air safety over Syria with the United States following the deadly US missile attack on the Sha’irat airfield, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

“Russia suspends the memorandum on the prevention of incidents and ensuring air safety during operations in Syria reached with the US,” the ministry said in a statement.

Iran strongly condemns ‘dangerous’ US strike on Syria airbase

In Tehran, Iran has strongly condemned a US cruise missile attack on a Syrian army airbase near the west-central city of Homs, calling it “destructive and dangerous”.

Press TV reported that the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Friday US use of a chemical attack in Syria as a “pretext for unilateral action is dangerous, destructive and violation of peremptory principles of international laws.”

Some 60 US Tomahawk missiles were fires from US warships deployed to the Mediterranean at the Shayrat airfield southeast of Homs earlier in the day, in an assault slammed by Syria as an “act of aggression.”

The spokesman said the US airstrike will only “strengthen the dying terrorist groups and complicate the situation in Syria and the region.”

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani’s special aide in international affairs, said the American attack was meant to encourage terrorism and it ignored the political process underway on the Syria crisis.

 “In circumstances when Syria has already been disarmed of its chemical weapons, there was a need for rigorous investigation into the accusation of the use of such weapons by the United Nations and [its] Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),” he said.

EU rejects any military solution to crisis in Syria

In the wake of the United States’ missile strike on Syria, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has rejected any military solution to the conflict in Syria, saying the bloc is committed to the unity and territorial integrity of the Arab country.

“The EU firmly believes that there can be no military solution to the crisis in Syria and is committed to the unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the Syrian state,” the EU official stated on Friday, adding that the bloc favors negotiation as the only means to resolve this crisis.

Greece Warns Against Military Intervention in Syria After Missile Attack

In Athens, Greece is strongly against any military intervention in Syria as it could hamper peace efforts, a source in the country’s Ministry of National Defense told Sputnik after the US missile attack on an airfield in Syria.

Czech Former PM: US Aggression Violates International Law

In Prague, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Jiri Paroubek said the American aggression on Syria violates the Syrian sovereignty and international law and it clearly supports terrorist extremist groups in the country.

He said in a statement that this attack is a flagrant action that will sharpen international tension.