Airstrikes justified by Nato chief as Turkey denies affect on relations with Russia

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has defended the weekend’s air strikes in Syria, saying the international community had to uphold the international ban on the use of chemical weapons.

Mr Stoltenberg spoke at a joint news conference with Turkey’s foreign minister yesterday after air strikes by the United States, France and Britain that hit Syria.

He said Russia had “again and again” prevented an independent investigation by the UN, which had left “Nato allies no other alternative than to act the way they acted”. He says the Western alliance “cannot be silent where chemical weapons

are used” and that “there was more than enough reason to act and not to act would be to erode the ban on chemical weapons.”

The Nato chief is in Turkey for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials.

Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu rejected a claim by French president Emmanuel Macron over the Western air strikes having driven a wedge between Turkey and Russia.

He said Turkey was co-operating with Russia and Iran to try and reduce the conflict in Syria despite a long-standing disagreement with them over their support to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Mr Cavusoglu said Turkey’s “ties with Russia are not weak enough to be driven apart by the French president. We have strong ties with Russia”. He added the “relations with Russia aren’t an alternative to our relations with Nato, or with France or the United States”.

French prime minister Edouard Philippe countered by saying the air strikes had sent a strong, clear message to dissuade Syria’s government from using chemical weapons.

He told French politicians his country’s “riposte” was “proportionate”, adding the military action was limited to Syrian chemical facilities to avoid harming civilians.

Mr Philippe said the joint action by the US, Britain and France was aimed at placing a prohibitive cost on the use of chemical weapons and degrading Assad’s ability to use them.

In yesterday’s speech at the National Assembly, Mr Philippe didn’t use the word “evidence”, but said intelligence gathered by France and its allies showed the “reality” of the chemical attack in Douma on 7 April.

Some French opposition leaders have criticised the strikes, saying they were not legitimate.