US allies around the world expressed support on Friday for Washington’s air strikes on Syria, calling them a proportionate response to Syria’s suspected use of chemical weapons.
The strikes were denounced as illegal by Syria itself and its allies including Russia.
But a wide range of US allies from Asia, Europe and the Middle East expressed support, if sometimes cautiously, in similar terms.
“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,” a British government spokesman said.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters: “Many innocent people became victims from the chemical attacks. The international community was shocked by the tragedy that left many young children among the victims.”
“Japan supports the US government’s determination to prevent the spread and use of chemical weapons,” he said.
Turkey viewed the strikes positively and the international community should sustain its stance against the “barbarity” of the Syrian government, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said.
In an interview with Turkish broadcaster Fox TV, Kurtulmus said Assad’s government must be fully punished in the international arena and the peace process in Syria needed to be accelerated.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Russia and Iran needed to understand that supporting Assad made no sense and that the escalation of the US military role in Syria was a “warning” to “a criminal regime”.
“Use of chemical weapons is appalling and should be punished because it is a war crime,” Ayrault told Reuters and France Info radio in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, where he is on a diplomatic visit.
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone. Both issued statements saying Assad was solely to blame for the air strikes.
The Dutch government said in a statement: “The United States has given a clear signal that the use of poison gas crosses a line.” It also labelled the air strike a “proportionate” response.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the strikes sent “a vitally important message” that the world would not tolerate the use of chemical weapons. — Reuters
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