Militarized actions should be avoided in Syria: officials

CAIRO – 15 April 2018: Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid warned on Saturday against the current international and regional polarization that would escalate the already worsened situation in Syria.

“From the beginning, Egypt has been keen to support the Syrian people and the unity of the state’s lands; the current military escalation will do nothing except jeopardize any possible political settlement in the future,” added Abu Zeid in a phone call to “Al Hayah Al Youm” TV host Khaled Abu Bakr.

Abu Zeid asserted that the international community must take full responsibility for the deteriorated situation in Syria, adding that a political resolution is the only method to end the Syrian crisis.

“Egypt is calling for a neutral investigation into the matter of the Syrian regime’s usage of chemical weapons; militarized actions in the troubled country led to the death half a million Syrian citizens during the past seven years, in addition to the existence of terrorist armed militias backed by regional powers,” said Abu Zeid.

In the same context, presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi asserted during an interview with Egyptian state TV that Egypt is bound to support the interests of the Syrian people, rejecting terrorist armed militias and hindering any attempts to have the Syrian state disintegrated into small entities.

The U.S., France and U.K. launched air strikes in the early hours of Saturday against targets belonging to the Syrian regime.

Since a suspected chemical attack was reported on April 7 against a rebel-held enclave east of Damascus, U.S. and Western allies threatened to launch a military action against the Syrian regime, but not its allies – Moscow and Tehran.

On the other hand, Russian, Iranian and pro-Assad media reported that the U.S. strikes targeted nine sites, not three, in Damascus, the nearby countryside and Homs, noting that that the strikes lasted for 50 minutes.

The Syrian army stressed that the trio’s strikes would not affect the Syrian army’s determination to crush terrorist and armed sites in Syrian territory.

“The trio strikes started at 3:55 a.m. (Syria local time), launching roughly 110 missiles against Syrian sites in Damascus and nearby areas,” the Syrian Armed Forces noted in a statement.