Tabnak - A day after the US launched a missile attack against an airbase in Syria, reactions to the event in various parts of the world are continuing and discussions are still ongoing about its implications. Although some in the US are questioning the legality of such an action, observers warn about further deterioration of US-Russia relations.
In a report today, the New York Times writes that the American military strike against Syria threatened Russian-American relations on Friday as the Kremlin denounced the US President Donald Trump’s use of force and the Russian military announced that it was suspending an agreement to share information about air operations over the country, devised to avoid accidental conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s office called the Tomahawk cruise missile strike on Syria a violation of international law and a "significant blow” to the Russian-American relationship, while Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev said it had "completely ruined” it. Trump administration officials suggested Russia bore some responsibility for the chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians that precipitated the American response.
At the same time, a Russian frigate armed with cruise missiles was heading to the Mediterranean in an apparent show of force. CNN quoted Russian state media reporting that frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich, would call at a logistics base at Tartus, Syria. Russia also pledged to help strengthen Syria's air defenses.
At home, a wide range of ideological enemies joined together to criticize Trump’s action, including antiwar liberals who said it violated the Constitution and isolationist conservatives who called it a betrayal of the values he expressed as a candidate. Even some who supported his action, like Hillary Clinton, called Trump hypocritical for lamenting the deaths of Syrian babies while seeking to bar Syrian refugees from the United States.
On the other hand, different foreign countries have during the last day taken positions for or against the US strike. "We find it important and significant that Mr. Trump particularly kept his promise and staged the operation, and we support it," Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said, according to Hurriyet Daily News. "We are also calling on all the international community to be in solidarity on this issue."
Saudi Arabia was another country that supported the strike. "Saudi Arabia fully supports the US military operations against military targets in Syria, which were a response to the regime's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians," a Foreign Ministry official said, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
However, the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemned the US strike. The "unilateral action is dangerous, destructive and violates the principles of international law," said the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi. Ghasemi said that "such measures will strengthen terrorists... and it will complicate the situation in Syria and the region."
