FO condemns use of chemical weapons in Syria, urges for peaceful resolution of conflict

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18

Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria on Friday said all stake holders in Syria need to find and work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict now in its seventh year.

"The people of Syria have suffered immensely," said the FO spokesman, adding that a solution to the conflict needs to be devised.

Zakaria added that Pakistan is a member of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and is against the use of chemical weapons.

"The use of chemical weapons by any side in the conflict is condemnable," said the FO spokesperson.

The US military carried out a massive cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base on Thursday in retaliation for a “barbaric” chemical attack he blamed on President Bashar al-Assad.

The massive strike — the first direct US action against President Assad's government and Trump's biggest military decision since taking office — marked a dramatic escalation in American involvement in Syria's six-year civil war.

Syria's government has denied any use of chemical weapons and state media on Friday described the US strike — which was reported to have pulverised the base and killed at least four servicemen — as an “act of aggression”.

Russia too denounced the US action, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying President Vladimir Putin considered it “aggression against a sovereign state” that would inflict “considerable damage” on US-Russia ties.

Trump announced the strike in a brief televised address delivered hours after the UN Security Council failed to agree on a probe into the suspected chemical attack.

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