Moscow will continue to support Syria in its fight against terrorism: Russian Senate speaker

Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko has said that Moscow would continue to support Syria in its fight against terrorism.

He made these remarks at a meeting with Syria's Parliament Speaker Hadiyeh al-Abbas.

"We will continue to make every possible effort to support the Syrian people in their fight against international terrorism," Russian state-owned news agency Tass News quoted Matviyenko, as saying.

She added that the two sides would boost their cooperation in the war against terror.

Condemning the recent U.S. missile attack on a Syrian air base, Matviyenko said that Russia considered it to be an act of aggression against a sovereign state.

 

The Russian Senate speaker said that Moscow from the very beginning of the Syrian crisis had been emphasising that it was unacceptable to interfere in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state.

"We also believe that the Syrian crisis can only be resolved at the negotiating table," she said.

On April 7, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a strike on Syria's Shayrat military air base located in the Homs Governorate. The attack, involving 59 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM), came as a response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Idlib Governorate on April 4. The U.S. authorities believe that the airstrike on Idlib was launched from the Shayrat air base.

The Syrian military, however, denied its involvement in the attack.

Russia Defense Ministry said that on April 4, the Syrian air force had delivered an airstrike on the eastern outskirts of the town of Khan Shaykhun to destroy militant facilities used to produce chemical bombs. These bombs were sent to Iraq and were previously used in Aleppo.

Russia strongly opposed the US missile strike. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow considered the attack to be an act of aggression against a sovereign state. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in turn, said that the aggression was carried out under a false pretext.

As many as nine civilians, including four children were killed in the United States missile attack on a military airbase in central Syria on Friday.

While, Washington stated it fired a barrage of 59 cruise missiles at the Shayrat base in response to what President Trump called a 'barbaric' chemical attack on a rebel-held town on Tuesday that he blamed on the Damascus regime.

The U.S. officials said Russian commanders in Syria were informed of the strike beforehand in order to avoid casualties that could prompt a broader crisis.