CAIRO – 8 April 2017: The United States struck a Syrian airbase in the early hours of
morning in retaliation for news of an alleged chemical missiles attack last Tuesday by Syrian government forces on the town of Khan Shaykhun.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a Friday press statement, called on the United States and Russia “to reach a comprehensive solution to the Syrian crisis.”
The statement by the ministry stressed the necessity of keeping the crisis in Syria from escalating, urging all Syrian parties to cease fire and resume negotiations.
A member of the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Dalia Youssef, told
it is “natural” for Egypt and th U.S. to have different policies regarding the Syrian crisis.
On the other hand, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ahmed Said, warned against fallouts of the serious military escalation in Syria. He also
out that the entire Middle East region and the world “will pay the price” of turning the region into an international field of conflict.
Said said the U.S. attack brings back the same “bloody” scenario of striking Iraq, which resulted in destruction and division within the country, even with no proof that Iraq possessed chemical weapons at the time.
Former Egyptian foreign minister, Mohamed Orabi, had a similar opinion. He
in a statement that the U.S. administration wanted to express how it would deal with such international crises. He also condemned taking U.N. decisions for granted.
Another member of the committee, Dalia Youssef,
the U.S. attack as an “unconsidered action,” saying that while that the use of chemical weapons is forbidden, comprehensive investigations should have taken place before turning to military intervention.
Egypt's envoy to the U.N., Amr Aboulatta, said what happened in Syria indicates that the Syrian people were “victims of a proxy war that had paralyzed the region.”
“We are fed up with the statements of regret and condemnation that follow every Syrian tragedy,” Aboulatta said during
at a UN meeting on the crisis. “Council members should abandon all disagreements and focus firmly on ending the crisis in Syria.”
“I call upon the United States and the Russian Federation, given their respective influence, to move actively in the direction of a middle ground and a political settlement of the conflict in Syria,” he added.
Parliamentarian and journalist Mostafa Bakry also
the U.S. strike, describing it as an “aggression” committed behind the back of the Security Council. He also said such attack are considered a violation of the national security of the Arab Region.
Speaking for the U.S., Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. permanent representative to the UN,
, “The Syrian government and its leader, Bashar al-Assad, have terrorized its own people. It has murdered hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. It has broken international law and violated numerous U.N. resolutions.”
“The Joint Investigative Mechanism has found beyond any doubt that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons against its own people multiple times,” Haley stressed. “The United States took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary.”
Commenting on the U.S. Friday attack, President Bashar al-Assad’s office
, “What America did is nothing but foolish and irresponsible behavior, which only reveals its short-sightedness and political and military blindness to reality.”
The U.S. attack followed days of outrage as images of dead children and victims suffering from a suspected sarin gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun went viral.
A statement by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack on the town in northwestern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
the attack left 131 civilians dead, including 41 children and 30 women, and injured about 160 others.
For his part, Saad al-Gammal, head of the Egyptian Parliament’s Arab Affairs Committee,
that even with warnings against the use of chemical weapons it is not the right thing to turn Syria into a field of international conflict. He called for a “diplomatic” solution to put an end to the crisis.
Comments
Leave a Comment