Russia says US action is an aggression that violates international law while Israel claims Trump has sent a strong, clear message

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

International reaction to the US cruise missile attack on a Syrian airbase has exposed the stark lines by which the international community is divided over the six-year civil war.

In reprisal for the Bashar al-Assad regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons earlier this week, the US launched 59 long-range Tomahawk missiles on the airbase from which it believes the Syrian warplanes launched the chemical attack.

Syria, which has denied responsibility, and its allies rushed to condemn the attack. A spokesman for Syria’s armed forces denounced the US a “partner” of jihadi groups in the country’s civil war. The army claimed the US airstrikes killed nine people and caused “huge material damage” at the Shayrat air base, south-east of Homs.

Russia, Syria’s key ally and military backer, said Vladimir Putin believed the US strike on a Syrian airbase was an “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law”.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi told the Fars news agency that the country “condemns all unilateral military action and the missile strike by US warships against Shayrat airbase under the pretext of Tuesday’s suspected attack on Khan Sheikhun”.

Witnesses to the Khan Sheikhun attack that prompted Donald Trump’s military response, told the Guardian the air raids began shortly after 6.30am on Tuesday, with four bombings around the town. Initially they thought it was another airstrike, until the first responders who arrived at the scene began falling to the ground.



Meanwhile, Syrian rebel groups and their international supporters welcomed the bombardment. Saudi Arabia called it a “courageous decision” by Trump, while Israel said the US president had sent a “strong and clear message”.

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On Friday morning the French government said “Assad bears full responsibility” for the airstrikes. Francois Hollande, the French president, had already spoken to his German counterpart, chancellor Angela Merkel, about the attack, a statement said.

“France and Germany continue their efforts with partners in the United Nations framework to sanction the most appropriate criminal acts related to the use of chemical weapons banned by all treaties.”

A statement from the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said: “In both word and action, President Trump sent a strong and clear message today that the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.

“Israel fully supports President Trump’s decision and hopes that this message of resolve in the face of the Assad regime’s horrific actions will resonate not only in Damascus, but in Tehran, Pyongyang and elsewhere.”

A Syrian opposition group, the Syrian Coalition, also welcomed the US attack, saying it put an end to an age of “impunity” and should be just the beginning.

Major Jamil al-Saleh, a US-backed rebel commander whose Hama district in the country’s centre was struck by the suspected chemical weapons attack, told the Associated Press he hoped the US attack would be a “turning point” in the war that has left more than 400,000 dead.

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There was a more complicated response in China. Xi Jinping is with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, but it was not immediately clear when Trump told Xi, whose government has repeatedly vetoed UN resolutions against Assad.

On Friday, Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said Beijing opposed the “use of force” but stopped short of explicitly condemning the US strikes.



Asked if the US attack on Syria would overshadow Xi’s meetings with Trump, Hua said China believed people were “paying close attention” to the Mar-a-Lago summit.