By Anil Bagrik
ADANA, Turkey (AA) - Turkey hopes for a "systematic" and "dissuasive" plan to stop the Bashar al-Assad regime from killing people, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Omer Celik said Friday.
Speaking to reporters in southern Adana province about the U.S. strikes on a Syrian military base, Celik said: “We would like to read [the U.S.] response to the Assad regime as determination against Assad’s massacres.
“We hope this is not just a reaction to the situation. There should be a systematic and dissuasive plan to sidetrack the Assad regime from killing his people.”
The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Shayrat Airbase American officials believe was used to carry out a deadly chemical attack Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed.
The missiles were fired from two U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean and hit the airbase at approximately 3.45 a.m. Syrian local time Friday (0045GMT). Aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radars were targeted, the Pentagon said.
On Tuesday, more than 100 civilians were reportedly killed and 500 others -- mostly children -- were injured in the attack allegedly carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime warplanes in the town of Khan Shaykhun, Idlib province, according to Syrian opposition government's Health Minister Firas Jundi.
The Syrian regime, for its part, denied allegations it targeted the area with chemical weapons.
Last year, a UN-appointed investigation panel found that chemical weapons were mainly used by regime forces in 2014 and 2015. No punitive measures were taken, however.