Countries across the world including Britain, France, Japan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have welcomed the US strikes targeting Shaerat airbase which Assad used to bomb civilians in Khan Sheikoun.
The British government declared its full support for the American operation, saying that the strikes were an appropriate response to the chemical attack the Assad regime launched on Tuesday on the town of Khan Sheikoun in rural Idlib.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that the United States had informed France in advance of the missile strike on the airbase.
“The use of chemical weapons is horrific and must be punished because it is a war crime,” Ayrault said. The US missile strikes have sent messages to Russia and Iran, Assad’s main allies, he added.
Turkey viewed the US missile strike against the airbase positively, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Friday. He stressed that the international community should sustain its stance against the “barbarity” of the Assad regime.
Saudi Arabia announced full support for the US strikes, with a Saudi Foreign Ministry official describing Trump’s decision as “courageous.” He said the strikes came as a response to the crimes of the Assad regime against its people and the international community’s failure to stop them.
The Bahraini Foreign Ministry also welcomed the US military strikes, stressing that this step was necessary to save lives in Syria and prevent the spread or use of any prohibited weapons against innocent civilians.
US President Donald Trump said that he had authorized the strikes in retaliation for the chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikoun in rural Idlib where scores of civilians were killed, including many women and children. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
