UPDATE - Russia: US strikes 'aggression' against sovereign Syria

ADDS MORE COMMENTS FROM KREMLIN SPOKESMAN, PLUS IRANIAN REACTION

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - The U.S. airstrikes at a Syrian military airbase were "aggression" towards a "sovereign" country, the Kremlin said Friday.

"President [Vladimir] Putin regards the American attacks on Syria as aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law, and under a far-fetched pretext," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in comments reported by Russian news agency TASS.

Peskov said the move by Washington has caused "substantial" damage to Russian-American relations.

He added that this step created "serious" problems for international cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Peskov claimed that the Syrian army does not possess chemical weapons.

"The destruction of all chemical weapons was recorded and confirmed by the OPCW," or Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, he added.

Peskov said Putin believes the U.S. attacks on Syria were an attempt to distract the world from "numerous" civilian casualties in Iraq.

- Iran 'strongly' condemns airstrike

"We strongly condemn the U.S. attack on Shayrat Airbase, which gave the chemical attack in Syria as a reason," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said in a statement Friday.

Ghasemi said that "such unilateral steps" would make issues in Syria and the larger region more "complicated".

The U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian military 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.