US strike overdue, says Australian Syrian

An Australian Syrian group says the US has its blessing after their missile strike on the Syrian airfield used to launch a deadly chemical weapons attack.

USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile

An Australian Syrian group says the US has its blessing after their missile strike on Syria. (AAP)

The toughest direct US action in Syria's six-year civil war should have happened sooner, an Australian Syrian activist says.

Dr Ibrahim Iyoun Alsoud says action should have been taken after a 2013 nerve gas attack that left hundreds dead.

It is time for the free world to say enough is enough, the Victorian said after a US missile strike on a Syrian air base believed to have been used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces to launch this week's deadly chemical weapons attack.

"It is about time and it is about time for this bloodshed in Syria to stop," Dr Alsoud told AAP on Friday.

Dr Alsoud, a member of the Australian Syrian Association, said Assad is fighting his own people and Iran and Russia remain his biggest supporters.

"Somebody has to say no to Russia and to Syria and Iran as well."

Australian Syrian Association Victoria spokesperson Dr Said Ajlouni said everyone should support the US action taken by President Donald Trump.

"As far as it is true that they are targeting the Assad air-fighters, they are targeting ISIL, they have all our blessing because we want to stop these airstrikes," Dr Ajlouni said.

"If such an airstrike can stop the Syrian air-fighters from bombarding their own people, it is a plus, it is well acknowledged and it is good for the Syrian people."

Dr Ajlouni said the chemical attack was heartbreaking and horrific.

"It is unacceptable and beyond imagination that a regime who will kill his own people using such nerve gas," he said.

Dr Ajlouni called for international pressure on Russia and Iran to stop supporting Assad.

"If we remove Assad and establish a new democratic government I think that will be the best way to go.

"We want to end this crisis in Syria."


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Published 7 April 2017 4:42pm
Source: AAP


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