The air strikes conducted by the United States over Syrian chemical weapons capabilities in Damascus in collaboration with the UK and France drew immense condemnation from Syria, Russia and Iran.
The ambassador to the US from Russia warned that there would be consequences for the attacks made early on Saturday, which was done as a response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend.
“A pre-designed scenario is being implemented,” Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on the Twitter handle.
“Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions would not be left without consequences.”
Antov further said that it was not acceptable to insult Russia’s president: “Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible.”
“The US – the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons – has no moral right to blame other countries.”
The Syrian presidency posted a video on twitter that showed President Bashar al-Assad arriving for work hours after the strike.
“The morning of resilience,” declared a caption accompanying the video circulated on the presidency’s Telegram feed.
“The barbaric aggression … will not affect in any way the determination and insistence of the Syrian people and their heroic armed forces,” state news agency SANA cited an official source in the Syrian foreign ministry as saying.
“This aggression will only lead to inflaming tensions in the world” and threatens international security, it added.
Syria’s strongest ally, Iran, also warned of “regional consequences” following the attacks.
“The United States and its allies have no proof and, without even waiting for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to take a position, have carried out this military attack… and are responsible for the regional consequences,” said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi on his Telegram channel.
A senior official in a regional alliance that supports Damascus said the Syrian government absorbed the attacks, adding that the targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to an early warning from Russia.
“We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians … and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago,” the official said.
About 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and the third part of them was shot down, the official added.
“We are assessing the material damages,” the official added.
President Assad has been backed in the seven-year-long Syrian war by regional powers Russia, Iran, and Iran-backed groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Explosions were reportedly heard in the cities of Damascus, Homs and elsewhere in Syria.
A US official told Reuters news agency that the attacks were made at multiple targets and involved Tomahawk cruise missiles.