US Missile Attack on Syrian Airfield May Escalate War in Syria - Corbyn

© REUTERS / Darren StaplesBritain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Britain, September 28, 2016.
Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Britain, September 28, 2016. - Sputnik International
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The US missile attack on an airfield in Syria could trigger the further escalation of the already violent and deadly conflict in the war-torn country, UK Labour Party’s head Jeremy Corbyn said on Friday.

A Syrian man is taken by civil defence workers to a small hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman following a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Thursday night, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha’irat, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Homs. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on the Syrian government.

A number of states, including Australia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Kingdom have already expressed their support for the attack, while Russia called the US actions in Syria an aggression against a sovereign state based on an unjustified reason.

"The US missile attack on a Syrian government air base risks escalating the war in Syria still further," Corbyn said, as quoted by the press service of the Labour Party.

Corbyn noted that the chemical attack, which killed 84 people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), required a thorough independent investigation, whereas unilateral, unauthorized steps would only exacerbate the situation.

"Tuesday’s horrific chemical attack was a war crime which requires urgent independent UN investigation and those responsible must be held to account… But unilateral military action without legal authorisation or independent verification risks intensifying a multi-sided conflict that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people," Corbyn said, as quoted by the press service.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia - Sputnik International
Putin Considers US Attack in Syria Aggression Against Sovereign State - Kremlin
Corbyn called for initiating Geneva peace talks over the recent attacks and urged the British government to "throw its weight behind peace negotiations and a comprehensive political settlement."

Following the Idlib incident, the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) launched an investigation.

The US missile attack late on Thursday claimed the lives of 10 people, an officer of the Syrian Armed Forces told Sputnik. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the attack left two Syrian servicemen missing, four killed, and six suffering severe injuries from the fire. Homs Governor Talal Barazi said earlier on Friday that at least two civilians from a nearby village and five Syrian servicemen were killed.

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