Canada, Mexico join leaders backing strikes
Many world leaders voiced support Saturday for the U.S.-led airstrikes against Syria, but warned against allowing the sevenyear conflict to escalate.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: “Canada stands with our friends in this necessary response and we condemn in strongest possible terms” the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Bulgarian government: “It has always been Bulgaria’s position that no cause justifies the killing of innocent people, including children; that the use of chemical weapons is a war crime and the strike on Syrian targets was a response to a war crime.” Bulgaria holds the rotating EU presidency.
European Union Commission President JeanClaude Juncker: “The international community has the responsibility to identify and hold accountable those responsible of any attack with chemical weapons. This was not the first time that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons against civilians but it must be the last.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “We support the fact that our U.S., UK and French allies took on responsibility in this way as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The military strike was necessary and appropriate in order to preserve the effectiveness of the international ban on the use of chemical weapons and to warn the Syrian regime against further violations.”
Greece’s Foreign Ministry: “Greece unreservedly condemns the use of chemical weapons and supports efforts to eliminate them. At the same time, the international community should aim for a political and sustainable solution in Syria that will end the war (and) allow the return of millions of refugees.”
Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni: “This was a limited and targeted action to strike the capacity of building or diffusing chemical arms. It cannot and should not be the start of an escalation.”
Mexican government: “Mexico reiterates its broadest condemnation of the use of chemical weapons.”
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg: “Before the attack took place (Friday) night, NATO allies exhausted all other possible ways to address this issue to the U.N. Security Council but were blocked by Russia. I am not saying that the attacks last night solved all problems but compared to the alternative to do nothing, this was the right thing to do.”
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy: “What has occurred in Syria ... goes far beyond the constant violation of ceasefires. The response to these atrocities is legitimate and proportionate.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying more must be done to hold Syria accountable for its use of conventional weapons. “The people who have been martyred by chemicals is a certain number but the people martyred by conventional weapons is much, much more.”