Moscow says US missile strike in Syria act of aggression

Moscow considers the U.S. missile strike on a military airfield in Syria as an "aggression against a sovereign state" under a far-fetched pretext, saying it violates international law, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

The strike is an attempt to divert international community's attention from civilian casualties in Iraq and could aggravate tension between the United States and Russia, the spokesman said.

"This step by Washington is causing significant damage to Russian-U.S. relations, which are already in a deplorable state," Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Interfax.

He added that the action is also crating a serious obstacle to the cooperation of Russia and the United States in fighting international terrorism.

According to media reports, U.S. warships launched over 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian military airfield in the center province of Homs at dawn Friday.

A monitor group said at least four Syrian soldiers have been killed.

Citing unnamed source, Russia's Sputnik reported that the U.S. strike claimed the lives of four children from families living nearby the Syrian airbase.

It is reported that no Russian citizens have been injured so far.

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier that he had ordered the strikes and called the operations in the nation's "vital interest."

"The U.S. missile strike on a Syrian military base in the Homs province fully steps outside the framework of international law and will lead only to a further escalation in Syria," said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs committee.

Victor Ozerov, chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Committee on Defense and Security, also noted that the U.S. missile strike will likely worsen the already clouded relations between Moscow and Washington and hurt bilateral military cooperation as the United States failed to communicate properly on the matter.

"Russia will first of all demand an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council," Ozerov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.

Source: Xinhua