07 April 2017•Update: 07 April 2017
By Ayhan Simsek
BERLIN
The U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian military air base is "understandable" after the failure of the UN Security Council to respond to recent chemical attack in Syria, the German government said on Friday.
Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel voiced support for the U.S. missile strike, highlighting that the UN Security Council’s inaction over Tuesday’s deadly chemical attack in northwestern Syrian town of Khan Shaykhun led to the response.
“It was hardly bearable to see that the UN Security Council could not respond in a clear and unambiguous manner to the barbaric chemical attack against innocent people in Syria,” Gabriel said in a press release.
“The U.S. response now by missile strikes on the military structures of the al-Assad regime, from where this cruel war crime was carried out, is understandable,” he said.
Tuesday’s chemical attack in northwestern Syrian town of Khan Shaykhun reportedly killed more than 100 civilians and injured 500 others, sparking an international outrage.
On Wednesday, Russia blocked a draft of the UN Security Council resolution by the U.S., U.K. and France, which aimed at putting pressure over the Bashar al-Assad regime to fully cooperate with the UN to investigate the chemical attack and prevent similar incidents in the future.
Gabriel said chemical weapons are prohibited by international agreements and there is a consensus in international community against the use of such lethal weapons.
He urged world powers to not walk away from talks for seeking a political solution to the civil-war in Syria.
“We must now give our full support for the work of the United Nations to reach a political solution to the civil-war in Syria. Only a new and democratic Syria can bring lasting peace,” he said.
The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian military air base American officials believe was used to carry out a deadly chemical attack Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed.
The missiles were fired from two U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean and hit the air base at approximately 3.45 a.m. Syrian local time Friday (0045GMT). Aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radars were targeted, the Pentagon said.
