Britain would join US in Syria air strikes: Johnson

Rasa - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says London will most probably support Washington in the event of further missile strikes on Syria.

News ID: 429027

Date: 19 April 2017 - 23:16

RNA - In an address to British MPs on Tuesday, Johnson said the UK government has not taken any decision yet but would find it “very difficult” to reject a request from the United States regarding attacks on Syria.

“It is my belief, though I stress no such decision has yet been taken, that were such a request to be made in future, were it to be a reasonable request in pursuit of similar objectives, then I think it would be very difficult for the United Kingdom to say no,” he said.

The British foreign secretary added that the UK had been informed of the US president’s order for missile strikes on a Syrian airbase earlier this month.

On April 7, US President Donald Trump ordered two US Navy destroyers to fire 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea at Syria’s al-Shayrat airfield, in retaliation for a deadly chemical incident in Khan Shaykhun, which American authorities have blamed on the Syrian air force without providing any evidence.

Denying the allegations, Damascus argues that the incident on April 4 was a result of an air strike hitting a chemical depot belonging to militants fighting the Syrian government. At least 87 people were killed in the town on that day.

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