1.2205248-1389737564
Damascus skies erupt with surface to air missile fire as the U.S. launches an attack on Syria targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Image Credit: AP

Manama: Saudi Arabia has expressed its full support to the US, British and French military operations against targets in Syria.

An official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the military strikes “came as a response to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including women and children”.

“The use of such internationally prohibited weapons is a continuation of the horrid crimes the regime has been committing for years against the Syrian people,” the source said, quoted by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The Syrian regime bears responsibility for the military operations in light of the international community’s failure to take strict measures against it, the source added.

In Manama, Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its full support for the military operation “aimed at the chemical weapons programme and military sites in Syria”.

The attacks followed the brutal chemical attack on the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta which took the lives of dozens of innocent people, including women and children, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the military operation was necessary to protect civilians on all Syrian territory and to prevent the use of prohibited weapons that would increase the frequency of violence and the deterioration of humanitarian conditions.

“The ministry calls on the UN Security Council and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta and stresses the importance of concerted efforts to end the Syrian crisis and reach a political solution based on the principles of Geneva 1 and UN Security Council Resolution 2254, in a manner that preserves the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria,” the statement said.