US missile strike complicates Syria crisis

DAMASCUS — The United States missile attack on a Syrian air base has complicated the crisis in the country and is threatening more militarization, analysts said.

The attack on Friday marked the first declared military action by Washington against the Syrian army.

At dawn on Friday, the US targeted the Shayrat Air Base in Homs with 60 Tomahawk missiles, killing six Syrian soldiers and nine civilians, and destroying nine Syrian warplanes. The US government said the attack came in retaliation for the strikes by the Syrian air force on the town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday.

Activists accused the Syrian army of firing toxic gas on the town, killing 70 people, while the Syrian army said the strike targeted an arms depot containing toxic gas, blaming the rebels for stockpiling the materials.

Munther Khaddam, a Syrian opposition figure, said the strike will have negative repercussions on the Syrian crisis.

“The US attack is condemned and no honorable Syrian accepts what happened, particularly in the recent months when the political solution started to become clearer with serious steps taken,” he said.

“The Syrian crisis has returned to the first square: the violence.”

He criticized the broadbased Syrian rebel groups, which welcomed the strike.

“Some groups are still betting on the military solution and foreign intervention, but nothing will save Syria except the political solution,” he said.

On Sunday, the Russian-Iranian joint operation room in Syria said Syria’s allies will strongly respond to any aggression against Syria, adding that the US attack is a violent aggression.

Abdul-Bari Atwan, a journalist from London, said the US attack is a reminder of the country’s allegations and lies regarding the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which were never found and proven to be nonexistent.

The attack is “the new catastrophe that is threatening the stability of the region”, he said.