Russia and Iran condemned air strikes by the US, UK and France on Syrian targets as a violation of international law. “Russia condemns the attack on Syria, where Russian servicemen are helping the legitimate government in the fight against terrorism, in the most serious terms,” Vladimir Putin said. “With its actions, the US further exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, causing suffering of the civilian population?.?.?.?they indulge the terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for seven years, and will thus provoke a new wave of refugees from this country and the region as a whole,” the Russian president said. In the absence of support from the UN Security Council, the strikes violated the UN charter and the norms and principles of international law and constituted “an act of aggression against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism”, Putin added. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the air strikes were ‘a crime’, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. In a meeting with senior officials in Tehran on Saturday, Khamenei said the American-led action would have no benefit for the US and its allies “as their presence and crimes in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan in previous years bore them no fruits”. Yadollah Javani, deputy commander for political affairs in the Revolutionary Guards, warned the US to expect consequences of the attacks, which leave “the hands of the resistance front [Hizbollah] open to react to the actions of the US and its allies”. UNSC on Syria UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Saturday urged all states “to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.” The UN Security Council is meeting at Russia’s request to discuss air strikes launched by the United States, France and Britain on Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack. He said international investigators were in Syria and ready to visit the site of a suspected deadly chemical weapons attack in Douma, which prompted military action by the United States, France and Britain. He said the alleged chemical attack demanded a UN investigation. The US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the UN Security Council that the US is ‘locked and loaded’ to strike again if Syria’s government uses chemical weapons. “We are confident that we have crippled Syria’s chemical weapons program. We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will,” Haley said. “If the Syrian regime uses this poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded,” she added. Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said the strikes threaten the UN-led bid to broker a political solution in Syria to the conflict. Russia has also said that it would consider supplying S-300 missile systems to Syria following strikes. “Russia convenes an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss aggressive actions of the US and its allies,” President Vladimir Putin said in a statement published on the Kremlin website. “The current escalation of the situation around Syria has a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations,” he added. Published in Daily Times, April 15th 2018.