Turkish Prime Minister Lauds US Attack on Syrian Airbase - Reports

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim supported the US decision to carry out a missile attack against Syria’s airbase during phone talk with US Vice President Mike Pence, local media reported Saturday citing a source at Yildirim’s office.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — According to the Anadolu news agency, Yildirim reportedly also noted the necessity to draw more attention to establishing Trump-proposed safe zones in Syria, aimed at guaranteeing that civilians in that area would not be targeted by any party in Syria's civil war.

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.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he welcomes the US missile strike on a Syrian airbase, but does not consider it to be sufficient.

The US missile attack 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.