The United States on Friday fired dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase from which it said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched this week, an escalation of the US military role in Syria that immediately raised tension with Russia.
Two US warships fired 59 cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean Sea at the Syrian airbase controlled by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in response to a poison gas attack in a rebel-held area on Tuesday, US officials said.
US Congress
US lawmakers had a mixed reaction, with some criticizing Trump's decision to use force without getting their approval.
"Congress will work with the president, but his failure to seek congressional approval is unlawful,” said Senator Tim Kaine, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said “this action was appropriate and just."
"Resolving the years-long crisis in Syria is a complex task, but Bashar al-Assad must be held accountable and his enablers must be persuaded to change course. I look forward to the administration further engaging Congress in this effort,” he added.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer stated that “making sure Assad knows that when he commits such despicable atrocities he will pay a price is the right thing to do, it is incumbent on the Trump administration to come up with a strategy and consult with Congress before implementing it."
Israel welcomed the move
"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," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
Syrian opposition welcomes US strike
The Syrian opposition welcomed US strikes against a Syrian government airbase on Friday and called for more after two American warships fired dozens of missiles at the airfield in a sharp escalation of the US military role in Syria.
The Syrian opposition has long been critical of US policy towards the Syrian conflict, saying former President Barack Obama's administration had failed to give enough support to rebels fighting the better-armed Syrian army and its allies.
"We hope for the continuation of the strikes in order to prevent the regime from using its planes to launch any new air raids or going back to using internationally banned weapons," said Ahmad Ramadan, head of the media office of the Syrian National Coalition political opposition group.
Saudi Arabia says fully supports US military strikes
Saudi Arabia said on Friday it "fully supports" US strikes on military targets in Syria, saying it was a "courageous decision" by President Donald Trump in response to the use of chemical weapons against civilians.
"A responsible source at the foreign ministry expressed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's full support for the American military operations on military targets in Syria, which came as a response to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians...," a statement carried by state news agency SPA said.
The statement praised what it described as "the courageous decision" by Trump and said it holds the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible for the military strikes.
Britain says it fully supports US strikes
Britain fully backs the US military strike against a Syrian airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched, a government spokesman said on Friday.
"The UK Government fully supports the US action, which we believe was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks," the spokesman said.
Iran denounced the attack
"Iran ... condemns use of chemical weapons ... but at the same time believes it is dangerous, destructive and violation of international laws to use it as an excuse to take unilateral actions," Students News Agency ISNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.
Turkey views US missile strike in Syria positively
Turkey views the US missile strike against a Syrian air base positively and the international community should sustain its stance against the "barbarity" of the Syrian government, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Friday.
In an interview with Turkish broadcaster Fox TV, Kurtulmus said the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must be fully punished in the international arena and that the peace process in Syria needed to be accelerated.
"As our president clearly said, we want to see action not just words. In this sense the USA striking the military base there is ... significant, important," Kurtulmus said.
Putin says US strikes on Syria illegal, harm US-Russia ties
President Vladimir Putin believes that US cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base broke international law and have seriously hurt US-Russia relations, Russian news agencies cited the Kremlin as saying on Friday.
The Russian leader, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, regarded the US action as "aggression against a sovereign nation" on a "made-up pretext" and as a cynical attempt to distract the world from civilian deaths in Iraq, Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, was cited as saying.
"Washington's step will inflict major damage on US-Russia ties."
France was informed of US Syria strikes, foreign minister says
The United States informed France ahead of its missile strikes on Syrian military positions, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Friday.
"I was told by (US Secretary of State) Rex Tillerson during the night," Ayrault told Reuters and France Info radio in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott where he is on a diplomatic visit.
"Use of chemical weapons is appalling and should be punished because it is a war crime," he said, adding that Russia and Iran needed to understand that supporting Assad made no sense, and that France was not seeking a confrontation with those two countries.
NATO: Syrian regime bears "full responsibility" for US strikes
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "bears full responsibility" for the US airstrikes against an air base in Syria.
"The Syrian regime bears the full responsibility for this development," Stoltenberg said in a statement.
"Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, cannot go unanswered, and those responsible must be held accountable," said Stoltenberg, who was informed by the US defense minister that strikes would go ahead.
REUTERS