BEIRUT (AP) — World leaders rallied around the United States after it launched a missile strike early Friday on a Syrian air base in response to this week’s chemical attack, while Russia condemned the move as “aggression” and suspended crucial coordination with Washington in Syria’s congested skies. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned Wednesday that the Trump administration will take action against chemical attacks in Syria that bear “all the hallmarks” of President Bashar Assad’s government if the U.N. Security Council fails to act. Assad’s office called the U.S. missile strike “reckless” and “irresponsible.” The Syrian military said at least seven people were killed and nine wounded in the strike. The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin believes the U.S. strike is an “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law.” Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin believes the U.S. launched the strikes under a “far-fetched pretext.”

“Washington’s move deals a significant blow to the Russia-U.S. relations, which are already in a deplorable shape,” Peskov said. Russia’s Foreign Ministry originally said it was suspending a memorandum with Washington — signed after Russia began an air campaign in support of Assad in September 2015 — under which the two countries exchange information about sorties over Syria. “I’m concerned … by the risk of inaction at this stage.”

Syria’s deputy U.N. ambassador Mounzer Mounzer told the council his government categorically rejects “false claims and accusations” that the army used toxic chemicals against Syrian civilians in Khan Sheikhoun, saying they are being used “as human shields by armed terrorist groups.”

He said the army doesn’t have any type of chemical weapons and “we have never used them and we will never use them.”

Mounzer called Syria the victim of “falsification and fabrication” by some permanent members of the Security Council and “armed terrorist groups” backed by several U.N. member states. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Assad’s government “must be removed from leading Syria as soon as possible, and the best way to do that is by starting the transitional process.”

The United Arab Emirates, which hosts some 4,000 American troops, said Friday the U.S. had its “full support.”

The tiny island nation of Bahrain described the U.S. missile strike on Syria as “needed to stop the bloodshed” in that country’s war. Trump said he ordered the operation after Tuesday's attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed more than 80 people, including many children. Russia’s intervention in Syria since September 2015 has turned the balance of power in Assad’s favor, and Moscow has used its veto power at the Security Council on several occasions to prevent sanctions against Damascus. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on Damascus. How many more children have to die before Russia cares?”

The resolution drafted by the U.S., Britain and France would condemn the use of chemical weapons in Syria, especially on Tuesday, “in the strongest terms” and back an investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. European Council President Donald Tusk also gave his backing to the US action, tweeting: "US strikes show needed resolve against barbaric chemical attacks.
Russia suspends a pact with the United States to coordinate operations in Syrian airspace.