FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting of his ruling AK Party at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey April 10, 2018. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed U.S., British and French forces’ airstrikes on Syria, saying that the operation sent a message to Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

“With the joint operation by U.S., U.K. and France on Saturday, the Syrian regime received the message that its massacres wouldn’t be left unanswered,” Erdogan told his ruling AK Party supporters in an Istanbul meeting.

“The innocent Syrian people should have been defended long ago,” Erdogan added.