Russia warns US not to repeat Syria strike

Russia has cautioned the United States against staging a repeat of its recent unauthorized missile strike against Syria, which risked sparking a direct confrontation between Moscow and Washington.

According to Press TV, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued the warning while meeting with his visiting American counterpart Rex Tillerson at the Kremlin on Wednesday.

It is “important to not allow repeat of such strikes,” which “were [in] violation of law,” Lavrov said.

Last Friday, US President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airbase. It saw a barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles launched against the Shayrat airfield in the western Syrian Homs Province, causing some 15 fatalities, including civilians.

Russian forces were based at the airfield, although US officials said the Russians had been given notice of the strike ahead of time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said afterwards that the strike had seriously hurt the Russo-American ties. Moscow also shut down a hot line that had been set up to prevent clashes between the Russian and American militaries in Syria.

Washington staged the strike over the accusation that Damascus had used the base to launch a gas attack in the northeastern Syrian province of Idlib a few days earlier. Syria has denied the accusation, saying instead that a chemical weapons depot belonging to the anti-Damascus militants had been hit in a conventional Syrian airstrike. Russia has verified that account.

Lavrov also told Tillerson that Russia had questions about the “very ambiguous” and “contradictory” statements coming from the US regarding Syria. He added that the Kremlin wanted to know about the real intentions of the White House as far as Syria was concerned.

He was apparently referring to Washington’s recent policy reversals and contradictory statements from US officials on Syria.

SS