Damascus, Syria, Apr 15, 2018 / 02:12 am
The airstrikes carried out by the United States, the United Kingdom and France against Syria on Friday constituted "unjust" and "brutal" aggression, the patriarchs of the major Christian Churches in Syria have said in a joint statement.
President Donald Trump ordered the airstrikes along with the U.K. and France in a joint show of military force following the suspected use of chemical warfare by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A total of 105 missiles targeted chemical weapons facilities in the country late Friday night.
Syria has been in the throes of a violent and turbulent civil war since 2011, which has killed nearly half a million and left 10 million displaced.
The Patriarchates of Antioch and all the East for the Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, and Greek-Melkite Catholic Churches condemned the attacks as pre-emptive and unjust, noting that there was not "sufficient and clear evidence" for the suspected chemical warfare attacks.