France Lost Opportunity to Act Independently by Joining Syria Strikes - Le Pen

07:38 GMT, 14 April 2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - French involvement in the Western military strikes on Syria deprived Paris of an opportunity to play the role of an independent actor at the international arena, French right-wing National Front party leader Marine Le Pen said on Saturday.

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"The strikes on Syria are involving us in unpredictable and potentially dramatic consequences. France has again lost an opportunity to act as an independent and balanced state," Le Pen wrote on her Twitter page.

Earlier in the day, France, along with the United States and the United Kingdom, launched strikes on a number of targets in Syria in response to the alleged chemical incident in the Damascus' suburb of Duma. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the three countries fired over 100 cruise as well as air-to-surface missiles.

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Damascus has rejected the allegations of its involvement in the Duma incident and invited the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate the reported attack.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing on Friday that the video reputedly featuring victims of the alleged Douma chemical attack receiving first aid, shared on the social media, was staged. According to the spokesman, the participants of the video were found, and they revealed the truth about the filming.

The Russian military warned back in mid-March that the militants in Eastern Ghouta were preparing a provocation that might include a staged chemical weapons attack.