Polish president voices ‘full support’ for US missile strike on Syrian base

Duda said US President Donald Trump's decision to target the Shayrat Air Base in Syria was a response to the use of chemical weapons by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad's regime against civilians earlier this week.

“In the face of this act of unimaginable barbarity, the civilized world could not remain indifferent," Duda said in a statement, referring to the chemical attack.

"Poland strongly condemns crimes committed against civilians and calls for the entire international community to engage even more strongly in the restoration of peace in Syria, to stop the madness of war, to interrupt the spiral of violence," the Polish president said.

Meanwhile, the Polish foreign ministry said the US strike was “a proportionate and adequate response to the barbaric chemical attack which, according to intelligence shared by the United States with its allies, had been carried out by the Syrian air force near the city of Idlib, claiming the lives of at least 78 civilians, including women and children.”

The foreign ministry added that the move by President Trump “has sent a strong and clear signal that further proliferation and use of chemical weapons, including against defenceless civilians in Syria, will not be tolerated.”

American officials said that two US warships fired 59 cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean at the Shayrat Air Base in Syria controlled by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad following a poison gas attack in a rebel-held area on Tuesday.

The Syrian government has denied it was responsible for the chemical attack.

Polish diplomats were informed in advance of the US plans to launch a strike, according to a Polish government spokesman.

(pk)

Source: PAP