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Kuwait, GCC states support US missile strike on Syrian base

(roundup) KUWAIT, April 7 (KUNA) -- The State of Kuwait, along with GCC member States Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, expressed support for the pre-dawn US missile strike on a Syrian military air base, said to be the launching site for Tuesday's chemical attack in northern Syria where scores of people perished.
An official source at the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry said: "The State of Kuwait, while affirming its emphatic rejection and robust condemnation of using various weapons of mass destruction including chemical arms, expresses its support for the military operations carried out by the United States of America targeting bases from where the chemical attack on the innocent in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, was launched claiming hundreds of victims and injuries particularly among women and children." The official source indicated that the US operation was carried out as a result of inaction on part of the international community to put an end to the tragedy of the brotherly Syrian people.
He affirmed all Syrian parties must be coerced to respond to international efforts for reaching the aspired political solution for restoring security and stability to Syria and halt spilling blood of the brotherly Syrian people.
Other GCC states, namely Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE took an identical stance.
An official source at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom's strong support for the military operations carried out against military targets in Syria.
According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the source said the US strike came in response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime forces against innocent civilians in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, adding that this assault caused deaths of scores of people, including women and children.
Bahrain welcomed the US missile attack on locations where the recent chemical attack on Syria's Khan Sheikhoun city was launched.
This step is vital to prevent the use of banned weapons and it is necessary to protect the lives of civilians, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement broadcast by Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
Moreover, Manama expressed full support for the US war against terrorism, hailing Washington's efforts to end the Syrian crisis.
In Abdu Dhabi, the state-run news agency, WAM, quoted Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Qarqash as holding the Syrian regime responsible for the deteriorating situation in his country.
He lauded US President Donald Trump "for taking this courageous and sagacious decision which will bolster America's status following complacency by the Security Council which abstained from playing its role in protecting international peace and security."

Heavyweight Egypt called on the US and Russia to take effective action to "contain the strife and reach a comprehensive and final settlement to the Syrian crisis." Cairo is following up with concern on repercussions of Khan Sheikhoun's catastrophe, which claimed scores of civilians' lives, due to international banned gases, said a statement released by the Foreign Ministry.
Rapid action is needed to resolve the military conflict in Syria and spare lives of the Syrian people, it added.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement at a crowd in the city of Hatay that the American strikes on the Syrian bases "are positive but not enough>' "No one has the right to live in peace in a world where children are slaughtered," he said, stressing that no power should seek to camouflage crimes against humanity.
In London, the British Government manifested full backing for the American cruise missile attacks calling on Russia to coerce Bashar Al-Assad's regime to halt the civil war in his country.

BBC quoted Michael Fallon, the Secretary of Defense, as saying London was informed in advance about Washington's plan to hit Syria adding that the US and the UK held "in depth" talks over the past days on the best means to retaliate for the regime's chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
Some 100 civilians including children perished and scores of other suffered from various injuries and severe burns in the air strike on Khan Sheikhoun.
The American attacks hit the air base, aircraft and equipment that had been used by the Damascus regime in the recent chemical attacks on the civilians in Idlib, Fallon said.
Meanwhile, in Amman, the Jordanian Government said the American strike "was an appropriate and necessary response to targeting civilians and perpetrating crimes against humanity." In Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that in response to the "horrific chemical weapons attack on civilians struck Khan Sheikhoun on April 4," the US launched air strikes on Shayrat Airfield last night. "The US has informed the EU that these strikes were limited and seek to deter further chemical weapons atrocities," he said in a statement.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the US strike against Syria, calling it "illegal". In a statement published on the Russian presidency website, Putin affirmed that the strike violated international law especially that it was based on the false purpose of retaliating to the chemical weapons attack allegedly carried out by Al-Assad's regime against Syrians in Khan Sheikhoun.
Iran for its part expressed strong condemnation to the strike on Al-Shayrat airbase in Syria. A statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi condemned the one-sided action from the US, saying that the assault might lead to unfortunate consequences.
In Madrid, Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis called on the international community to respond to the Syrian regime's usage of the chemical arms and seek to find a settlement to the crisis in the troubled Arab nation.
In Istanbul, the Syrian opposition coalition declared support for the American retaliation for Tuesday's chemical attack on civilians in Khan Sheikhoun.
"We welcome the strike that targeted the regime positions from where warplanes and arms were used to kill civilians, said Abdulelah Al-Fahad, the coalition secretary general in a statement.
The Dutch government showed understanding for the US cruise missile attack on a Syrian airbase early today. Dutch media quoted Dutch Deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher as saying that "he understood the American response," and added that "he hoped it would deter the use of 'horrible weapons' like poisonous gas." In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the US missile strike on the Syrian air base was predicted. The premier said at an impromptu news conference that the air operation, ordered by US President Donald Trump, was "a justified retaliation for a war crime," alluding to Tuesday's air strike with chemical arms on Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, where some 100 people perished and scores other suffered various injuries.
Germany said US air strikes against Al-Shayrat airbase in Syria is understandable because it is a direct consequence of the Assad regime's brutal treatment of the Syrian people.
In Beirut, Lebanese President Michel Aoun expressed in a statement condemnation of using all types of weapons of mass destruction "by any party." (end) rk