Syria governor: US missile strikes serve goals of 'armed terrorist groups

BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. missile strikes on Syrian military positions serve the goals of "armed terrorist groups" and Islamic State, the governor of Syria's Homs province said on Friday."Syrian leadership and Syrian policy will not change," Homs Governor Talal Barazi said in a phone interview with state television. "This targeting was not the first and I don't believe it will be the last," he added.U.S. President Donald Trump said he ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched this week, declaring he acted in America's "national security interest" against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.U.S. officials said the military fired dozens of cruise missiles against the airbase in response to the suspected gas attack in a rebel-held area that Washington has blamed on Assad's forces.The Syrian government has strongly denied responsibility."The armed terrorist groups and Daesh failed to target the Syrian Arab Army and Russian military positions," Barazi said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The Syrian government describes all armed groups opposed to it as terrorists.The U.S. strikes "targeted military positions in Syria and in Homs specifically" in order to publicly "serve the goals of terrorism in Syria and the goals of Israel in the long run," Barazi added.A Syrian military source said earlier the attack on the Syrian air base had led to "losses.""I believe - God willing - that the human casualties are not big, but there is material damage. We hope there are not many victims and martyrs,"Barazi said by telephone to Reuters.He said rescue and fire-fighting operations had been going on for two hours.(Reporting by Mohamed el-Sherif/Tom Perry; Writing by Ellen Francis; Editing by Randy Fabi and Lisa Shumaker)SEE ALSO:http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-airstrike-syria-chemical-attack-bashar-assad-2017-4Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Children who eat too much sugar are developing diseases that only alcoholics used to get
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