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Russian MPs Call on Int'l Organizations to Condemn US Missile Strikes in Syria

© Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Go to the mediabankUS missile attack on the Syrian airfield
US missile attack on the Syrian airfield - Sputnik International
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Lawmakers of the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, called on the international organizations in a statement on Friday to condemn the US missile strikes on a Syrian military airfield in the western province of Homs.

U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea which U.S. Defense Department said was a part of cruise missile strike against Syria on April 7, 2017. - 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.

"The State Duma lawmakers call on the world's parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe and the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] to condemn the aggressive actions of the United States, violating the fundamental principles of the international law, undermining the cooperation of states on the fight against terrorism," the statement read.

The lawmakers also stressed that Washington had used an alleged chemical attack in Syria as a pretext for carrying out the strikes.

"Without a preliminary investigation [of the alleged chemical attack] and by rejecting Russia's proposal on the need to carry out careful examination of all the circumstances of the tragedy, the United States, relying on the geopolitical ambitions of the global policeman, once again demonstrated its commitment to the military actions, aimed at overthrowing [Syrian] President Bashar Assad," the document added.

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Homs Governor Talal Barazi said earlier on Friday that the airbase had suffered insignificant damage after the overnight attack with US cruise missiles. According to Barazi, the attack left five servicemen and two civilians dead. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, two Syrian servicemen are now missing following the attack, while four are confirmed dead and six are injured from trying to extinguish the flames. The Russian Defense Ministry also said that a material storage depot, training facility, cafeteria, six MiG-23 aircraft in repair hangars and one radar station were destroyed by the US strike.

On Tuesday, the Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces reported a chemical weapon attack in Syria’s Idlib province. According to recent data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), 84 people, including 27 children died in the suspected chemical attack.

After a 2013 chemical weapon attack in eastern Ghouta, Syria, 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 the completion of the chemical weapons disarmament in Syria.

On Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said that the Syrian government forces had never used chemical weapons against civilians or terrorists and would never do that.

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