“Mission Accomplished!” Photo: AFPBeirut/London/Moscow: The US, UK and France sought to shore up international support Saturday after overnight strikes on Syria in retaliation for an apparent chemical weapons attack by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “Mission Accomplished!”In the aftermath of the attack, the western powers set out their justification for military action that was carried out without a mandate from the United Nations and in the face of criticism from Assad’s allies Russia and Iran. “We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized.”French President Emmanuel Macron said the action was narrowly focused on Syria’s chemical weapons facilities while May insisted there was no intention to interfere in the broader civil war that has engulfed the country since 2011. She urged Russia and Iran to help prevent any further use of chemical weapons by Assad’s regime. “Russia probably got an assurance that these strikes would only target the CW capability of the regime,” he said.

Source: Mint April 14, 2018 13:52 UTC