Missile Strikes on Syria Justified, Not Connected to Assad's Removal - Johnson

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has commented on the latest missile launches on Syria carried out by the United States, France and the United Kingdom in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by Damascus.

The head of the UK foreign policy justified Monday the last week's missile launches, adding though that the attacks weren't aimed at removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"There's one overwhelming reason why this was the right thing to do and that is to deter the use of chemical weapons, not just by the Assad regime but around the world," Johnson said.

Last Saturday, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom launched strikes on a number of targets in Syria in response to an alleged chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the three countries fired over 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles, most of which were shot down by Syrian air defenses.

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The attack came the same day that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission was set to start the probe into the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, which the West had immediately blamed on Damascus.

Following the accusations, the Syrian government has strongly denied being behind the alleged attack and stated that the missile strike was "brutal aggression."