Lithuania supports actions against Syrian regime – formin

“We support the actions that have been launched by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. It is an expected reaction that came in response to repeated violations of the red line by the Syrian regime,” the minister told BNS on Saturday.

“It is only a resolute action that could revise policies of the regime and send a very clear message to the countries that flagrantly support the regime, first of all Russia and Iran,” said Linkevičius.

In his words, the penal strikes against the regime was the only possible response to the use of chemical weapons against the civilian population, including children.

“A year ago, last April, there was a certain penal action that involved the use of chemical weapons. Syria had committed itself to eliminating chemical weapons, Russia was the warranting country, we see that this has not been translated into reality,” Linkevičius told BNS.

Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry later issued a statement, saying that Lithuania “supports actions by the US, UK and France against the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons facilities.”

According to the communique, this was the only possible response to the use of chemical weapons against civil population, including children.

“Military response of the international community needed to send a strong signal to (Bashar al) Assad’s regime and its supporters. It is the only way to prevent the use of chemical weapons in the future,” said the ministry.

On Saturday, the United States, the United Kingdom and France delivered a series of penal strikes against the Assad regime in response to the earlier chemical attacks.

Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said it had no information about injury of Lithuanian citizens during the operation in Syria, urging all Lithuanian citizens to leave the country without delay.