May defends legality of Syria attacks in parliament

IANS (11 months ago)

London, April 17 : British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday defended before Parliament the legality of her decision to bomb Syrian government facilities in coordination with the US and France.

May claimed Saturday's missile attacks were "not just morally right but also legally right" and were not about getting further involved in Syria's seven-year civil war, Efe news reported.

"It was about a limited, targeted and effective strike that sought to alleviate the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people by degrading the Syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deterring their use," she said.

However, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the attack was "legally questionable" because it was not done in self-defence and did not have the approval of the United Nations.

On April 14, the US, the UK and France launched three attacks on facilities in Syria allegedly used for the production and storage of chemical weapons, after an alleged chemical weapons attack was carried out in the Arab country a few days earlier, which has not been independently verified.