MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha'irat near Homs late Thursday. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on Damascus.
"Any strikes or attacks against the tools which kills Syrian people with chemical weapons and barrel bombs is welcome," Rais said.
The opposition High Negotiations Committee is supportive of the US military action, as they blamed the Syrian government for the suspected chemical attack in Idlib on Tuesday, which claimed the lives of some 80 people and inflicted harm on another 200 civilians.
"The regime is not the one who is stopping Daesh. We are fighting Daesh. Daesh will be weaker if the regime got more attacks," he added.
Following the 2013 chemical weapon attack in eastern Ghouta, Syria, an incident which killed up to 1,500 people, Syria joined the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The country's decision to join the convention came as result of a US-Russian agreement on the elimination of chemical weapons in Syria under OPCW control. In January 2016, the OPCW announced its completion of the chemical weapons disarmament in Syria.
However, in June 2016, the US State Department published a report which said Syria had continued to use chemical substances against citizens and suggested the country could also stockpile chemical weapons. After the report was released, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo said that UN and OPCW experts still could not confirm the complete destruction of chemical weapon production facilities in Syria.
