Breaking News, 14th of April, 2018

Today, between 3 and 5 AM, Moscow time, warplanes and warships of the United States, together with the RAF of Great Britain and Air Forces of France, launched a missile attack on the objects of military and civilian infrastructure of Syria. Damascus claims that about 30 missiles were fired at Syria. One third of them were intercepted. At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry reports of a hundred missiles. The Russian air defense units, located in Syria, did not partake in the interception of the missile strike by the United States and their allies. The missile strike against Syria was a response to the usage of chemical weapons in the city of Douma, allegedly carried out by Syrian government.

Residents of Damascus reacted to the US missile strike by going to the streets with national flags in support of Bashar Assad.

Russia calls upon an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggression of the Western countries against Syria. «Without the permission of the Security Council of the United Nations, in violation of the UN Charter, as well as norms and principles of international law, an act of aggression has been committed against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism» — Putin declared. The Russian President underlined that the staging of usage of poisonous substances in the city of Douma was used as an excuse for the attack. The western countries began a military aggression, without waiting for the results of the investigation by the OPCW. «By their very actions, the United States further exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, causing further suffering to the civilian population. In fact — they indulge the terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for the last seven years» — Putin added.

Ankara «welcomes» the missile strike on Syria by the United States, Britain and France, Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday in a statement.

At this the moment, the US do not have plans to make new attacks on Syria, said Pentagon chief James Mattis. «The occurred strike will lead to a long-term decline in Syria’s potential for research, development and use of chemical and biological weapons. Damascus will lose data on analysis and development, accumulated over the years, special equipment as well.» — explained the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford. Also, Dunford added that Russia was warned about the attacks, but the target sites were not specified.

«The press service of the Libyan National Army denied information from a number of European and Libyan mass media about the death of army commander Khalifa Haftar. For refutation, a telephone conversation took place with Haftar.» — Erem News portal reports that the Field Marshal Haftar returned from Paris to Libya on Friday, and didn’t die in the French capital from a stroke, as the newspaper »Le Monde» wrote earlier.