One killed, seven injured in forest fires in Syria
One person was killed and seven others injured on Friday in forest fires raging across the northern countryside of the northwestern province of Latakia since Thursday, according to Syrian state TV.
Syria ally Russia has warned of “consequences” following the launch of US-led strikes against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack.
“Again, we are being threatened,” Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said in a statement.
“We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.”
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“Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible,” added the envoy, after President Donald Trump directly called out his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over his support for the Assad regime.
Russia’s foreign ministry said that Western strikes on Syria came as the country had “a chance of a peaceful future.”
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook: “Those behind all this claim moral leadership in the world and declare they are exceptional. You need to be really exceptional to shell Syria’s capital at the moment when it had gained a chance of a peaceful future.”
Huge blasts were reported around Damascus early on Saturday, moments after the US, France, and Britain announced they were striking Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities.
The joint operation came one week after a suspected chemical attack outside Damascus left more than 40 people dead.
Zakharova suggested that Western media bore some responsibility for the strikes, claiming the White House cited “multiple media sources” on the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma.
“American and other Western media must understand their responsibility for what happened,” Zakharova wrote.
The Russian defence ministry and the Kremlin have yet to make any comment on the strikes announced by US President Donald Trump.
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