US missile strike on Syria: Timeline of reactions

The United States military launched 59 missiles during the early hours of Friday targeting an airbase in Syria. The move continues to draw international reactions.

According to Press TV, the strike was the Pentagon's first direct attack against Syria since the beginning of the conflict in 2011.

On President Donald Trump’s order, the US launched the strike on the Syrian airfield in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province earlier this week. Damascus has categorically denied carrying out a chemical attack.

Sergei Lavrov said the missile strike was "an act of aggression, on an absolutely made-up pretext."

"It reminds me of the situation in 2003 when the United States and Britain, along with some of their allies, attacked Iraq," the Russian foreign minister told a press conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Lavrov hoped that “this provocation will not lead to irreparable damage” to the ties between Washington and Moscow.

The office of President Bashar al-Assad said in a statement that the "foolish and irresponsible” attack reveals Washington’s short-sightedness.

Damascus said it would intensify operations against foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists.

"What America did is nothing but foolish and irresponsible behavior, which only reveals its short-sightedness and political and military blindness to reality," the statement said.

SS